


The Sin Of Loving You More

by leehwi



Series: One-Shots [5]
Category: Pentagon (Korean Band), iKON (Kpop)
Genre: M/M, Pining, Rough Sex, Sex Shop, Slow Burn, Smut, Yan An's my favorite character here, everyone's a little bit of an asshole, ikon's in only one scene don't worry, lots of kink mentions, people are flawed what can I say, there's a lot of language too, they're just ensemble mostly, top/bottom rules don't apply everyone's a switch here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 22:26:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9849167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leehwi/pseuds/leehwi
Summary: In which Hwitaek spends too much time pining over Jinho, a customer in the adult store where he works, and he has to sort out his feelings before Jinho's boyfriend sorts them out for him.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the hoeniverse™️️](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=the+hoeniverse%E2%84%A2%EF%B8%8F%EF%B8%8F).



> Okay, so this was my month long project that - now that I look at it, it kinda sucks, haha.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!  
> Yan Angel is the best imo
> 
> The title is from FT Island's song Lovesick, that Jinho and Shinwon covered on Kiss The Radio.
> 
> If you want to avoid the smut, you can skip at "This is Hwitaek", there's a line that separates and then just skip down until you see the next line. :)

Hwitaek was an adult, he could control his feelings. He never experienced negative emotions like hatred or fury, they just didn't accommodate him, but recently he'd been feeling one emotion in particular. Jealousy.

The object of his jealousy was none other than Yang fucking Hongseok. The tall muscular chestnut skinned Adonis of a man. But Hwitaek didn't want any of his easily enviable physical features, he could stick those up his ass as far as Hwitaek was concerned, he wanted only one thing from him and that was the small brunette who was hanging on his arm day and night.

Every time that Jo Jinho entered the room, Hwitaek lost his breath and forgot how to function like a human. Whenever they entered the adult store where he worked, all grins and touchy feely with each other, his stomach turned and he felt himself grow red. He didn't know when these feelings started, but they made him more angry with himself than ever before. Hongseok was his friend, why was he being so petty about it?

 

 

On this particular sunny Tuesday, Hwitaek was stocking the Okamoto size medium condoms when in the duo came, Hongseok is all of his gorgeous glory and his glowing partner, whose presence was known by Hwitaek the second he stepped in the store. Something about Jinho always caught his attention and he was immediately aware of him every single time he entered Hwitaek's work domain.

"Hwi!" He heard his supervisor and friend, Shinwon, yell. His head popped up from behind the shelf he was standing in front of. "Can you help them find the Japanese bondage ropes? The soft cotton ones?"

Hwitaek nodded, not wanting to look at the couple, the idea of Hongseok being the one to wrap the soft rope around Jinho's pretty skin made his blood boil. He hated the fact that he'd become enthralled with a customer, it made it harder because the sex life of said customer and his partner was in no way secret from Hwitaek. As he even helped them find the items they needed, he knew roughly every detail. He felt his skin crawl whenever he imagined Hongseok doing to Jinho what he so desperately wanted to do himself.

He walked down the dimly lit rows of various sex toys and items until he found what he was looking for.

"Hey Hwitaek!" Hongseok chirped cheerily, earning a grumble in return.

They seemed to have accepted Hwitaek's general attitude awhile ago. "I appreciate your help," was Hongseok's next attempt, but he was ignored.

Jinho let out a tiny giggle that made Hwitaek's stomach flop horrifically, he was apparently amused by Hwitaek's behavior. That made it even harder to avoid him.

"Here's the soft cotton ones, we have more colors in the back."

"What color do you want, baby?" Hongseok asked Jinho, who turned thoughtful.

Hwitaek had to turn his back to grimace to himself. He hated the name 'baby', he hated it when Changgu used it on him - as he was older than him - and he hated hearing it directed towards Jinho, but he assumed there was no way of avoiding it. He waited patiently for Jinho to make up his mind.

"What color would look best with my skin?"

"Purple," Hwitaek blurted, unable to stop himself suddenly. He paled and looked at the couple, expecting Hongseok to be angry. "From a professional standpoint," he added quickly.

"Yeah, sure," Hongseok shrugged, apparently entirely unfazed. "Purple would be good."

"I'll get it from the back," Hwitaek muttered and dashed to the storage room, feeling Jinho's eyes on him as he went. He scanned through the box of bondage ropes that couldn't fit on the shelf until he found what he was looking for, the pretty subtle purple one that had caught his eye a few weeks ago. He withdrew it and stared at it for a few seconds, imagining it tied around Jinho's slender body, the soft rope flush against his skin. He shuddered at the thought and quickly went back out.

"Found it," he muttered, approaching Hongseok and Jinho. Hwitaek pretty much always muttered, they'd learned shortly after meeting him.

They'd all three been friends for about two years, Hongseok and Jinho having been dating for three. They met Hwitaek through their mutual friend Hyojong, a wild personality and a great ass, everyone knew it. Hwitaek was Hyojong's roommate from college and one of his various old flings. When jobs had come up, Hongseok proudly blurted that he had a well paying job as a personal trainer of some sort, Jinho shyly muttering something about being a performer - "the-the theatre kind, not the...exotic kind" - and everyone had looked at Hwitaek expectedly until he confessed that he worked at a sex shop. They encouraged him to tell them where as they were wanting to look into a more...advanced sexual relationship.

Hwitaek regretted ever telling them where he worked.

The only person aside from Hwitaek who was aware of his infatuation with Jinho was Hyojong, who could see through any and everyone. As Hwitaek scanned their purchase and rang it up in the register, he watched the way Jinho fidgeted and stared at him intensely. He couldn't help returning the gaze, curious as to what he wanted. The older simply gave him a cute smile.

His heart lurching in his chest, Hwitaek tried to give a smile back, but it looked more like he was baring his teeth menacingly. He couldn't remember the last time he genuinely smiled, it'd been awhile. The way Jinho pulled back made his chest ache. He focused on finishing their purchase as soon as possible and practically shoved them out the door as soon as they were done. He hated seeing them in here.

"Hyung, we must be kind to our customers," Shinwon reminded, patronizingly. Despite Hwitaek being older, Shinwon took every opportunity he could to be very annoying, as he was the supervisor.

It took everything in him not to tell Shinwon to fuck off and instead he busied himself with the stocking again, there were various new lube flavors that needed to go up on the shelf and a vibrator - that Hwitaek almost wanted to try - called the Red Hot Bullet that they only just recently started carrying and needed to be shelved. He focused on getting his work done and tried not to think about Jinho for the rest of the day. It was difficult, images of his slender hips or his perky mouth appearing in his mind every hour or so, distracting him from his tasks. Sometimes he felt like the worst employee ever.

When his shift was over, he withdrew his phone to look at his messages, he had one from Wooseok, asking if he could bring home some more ramen as they were out. He sighed internally, living with a college student was difficult as by the end of the week, he ate all of the food. Hwitaek made sure to stop to pick up before he headed home.

"Wooseok-ah!" he shouted as he entered the flat, hearing the scuffling of large feet before his massive roommate came out of his room.

Wooseok was a tall, gorgeous college student and everything Hwitaek would hate, if he wasn't so adorable and likable. He was almost childlike, the way he came bounding in and immediately searched for food, but the words coming out of his mouth were anything but childish.

"I'm fucking hungry. How was work at the condom shop?" He smirked at Hwitaek, who fixed him with a blank glare.

"Technically it's an 'adult store' and I brought home more ramen and some snacks, but also some fresh fruits and vegetables, if your diet decides to be favorable to your health anytime soon," he expected Wooseok's response and wasn't wrong as the younger simply rolled his eyes.

He watched his roommate grab a small rice cake snack before quickly disappearing back into his room to finish his studies. Hwitaek was suddenly reminded of how stressful college was for him, he had spent every second that he was eating or sleeping, studying and he still didn't have great grades. That's why he now worked in a sex shop.

He wouldn't complain though, the work was easy and the customers - albeit often shy - were generally kind. He also got to see Jinho more often than just when their friend group hung out on the weekends. Jo Jinho. He still didn't know when or why he'd fallen so hard for his friend, but every time he saw the older boy, his heart did a double flip and pounded against his ribcage as if it wanted to jump out and go join Jinho's heart.

Even now, just thinking about him made Hwitaek's heart slam around in his chest, at least he wasn't lying to himself, he knew he was in too deep. With Jinho now on his mind, Hwitaek spent the rest of the night feeling...tight. His nerves were wound so tight, he thought they might snap and he'd take it out on Wooseok. His pants were also a little tight, which did not go unnoticed by his roommate, the younger giving him a pointed look halfway through dinner.

Going to sleep that night was difficult to say the least, Hwitaek's vibrator had broken three nights ago and he hadn't really wanted it till now. He wasn't overly fond of using his hands and making a mess, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And he was _desperate_.

It didn't take long for him to fix his tight pants problem and lay down staring at the ceiling until he finally drifted off to sleep, uncomfortably familiar with the ache that he suddenly felt in his chest. The last thing on his tongue and mind was Jinho, the fact that he was Hongseok's boyfriend - was the painful reminder that followed.

 

* * *

 

 

When he woke, he rolled over to look at the time, Wooseok would have already gone off to school. Or...maybe not...what day was it even? He couldn't remember at this time. He carefully stood up, stretching out his stuff limbs and trodden to his bathroom where he stood staring in the mirror. He looked like shit. He took a deep breath and went about washing his face, the bags under his eyes were evidence of his poor health.

Hwitaek had never been a model of health, he'd always been too skinny and slept poorly, but recently it had gotten even worse. He had a doctor's appointment later that day, he realized looking at his schedule on his phone. Well, not a legitimate doctor's appointment, but his friend Yan An who was in medical school was going to be at their dinner and had reassured him that he would be giving him a moderate check up.

He quickly got dressed and then checked the group chat that was between his group of friends and him. He sighed and had the sudden urge to throw his phone out the window.

 

**Changgu**

_Jinho-hyung? Jinho-hyung?_

**Changgu**

_Jinho-hyung?_

**Jinho**

_Jinho's busy._

**Changgu**

_Gross Hongseok, keep it to yourself! I'll talk to Jinho later then._

**Adachi**

_That's nasty, you guys._

**Jinho**

_;)_

 

He wasn't sure how much longer he could put up with this. He settled for muting the chat for now and threw his phone somewhere into his bedroom, going to set up his laptop in the kitchen. He hit play to whatever drama was recent and started cleaning up his kitchen. On days when he worked early morning to later in the night, Wooseok would make whatever snack he wanted and then leave the mess as he would get distracted by schoolwork again.

He could be a handful sometimes, but at the start of the week, he would do the cleaning that needed to be done. They had a complicated system, but it worked for them.

When the kitchen was finally clean, he made a pot of coffee while watching the rest of the episode. He paused filling the grounds as a particularly interesting part came on and he stopped to watch. He wasn't expecting to get so interested, but he was about to sit down to better watch when the sound of the doorbell made him yelp. He sat clutching his chest, trying to regain his composure. He wasn't expecting company...

Taking a look through the peephole, he felt his breathing grow heavier as he could barely make out the top of a head of brown hair. There was only one person that short that would be visiting him.

He quickly straightened his clothes, regretting only wearing jeans and a muscle tank as he opened the door, suddenly realizing he forgot to fix his hair. It was too late. Jinho had already seen him, the soft smile that appeared on the older's face made him want to die. How dare he come here looking so soft and cute?

Jinho was wearing dark ripped skinny jeans that exposed the majority of his thighs, he had a sweater that hugged his broad - in comparison to the rest of him - chest and a jacket that hung down past his butt. His hair was all messy and he looked like the wind outside had almost knocked him over, his pink nose suggesting that it was chilly today. "Hey, Hwitaek," he beamed.

"Hi," he mumbled. "Do you need something?" Occasionally he forgot his manners, especially when faced with the gorgeous Jo Jinho.

"Did you not get my text?" The older frowned briefly, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing his mobile. He showed the screen to Hwitaek, who squinted to read the text.

_it's been a long week, I'm bringing bagels if you'll make coffee xxx_

He sighed, remembering that he'd abandoned his phone in his bedroom somewhere. He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly embarrassed. "Shit, I'm sorry, hyung. I left my phone elsewhere," he gestured inside of the apartment. "It's a bit messy, but you can still come in. I actually did make coffee."

Jinho's expression lit up and he lifted a brown paper bag. "I got bagels."

His smile made Hwitaek feel dizzy, how could such a small man have so much light inside of him? How could someone so seemingly pure be so secretly kinky? He shook away the last thought and began gathering some of the clothes that were strewn on the couch, he couldn't see a good place to hide them and so just left them in a pile on the floor.

"Wooseok..." he muttered awkwardly, making Jinho giggle.

"It's okay. My place is worse," he added helpfully. "I have clothes everywhere too."

"Oh, because of Hongseok and you...?"

Jinho blinked at him for several seconds and Hwitaek began regretting everything. "I'm so sorry, that was so inappropriate, I-"

"No, you're okay," Jinho laughed a bit. "You just made me realize that...Hongseok's never really come over to my place. We've always gone to his. Just a weird thought."

Hwitaek felt bitter about the mistreatment of his dear Jinho, but he simply nodded and went to pour him a cup of coffee instead, it was the least he could do. He offered him cream and sugar but was denied, so he handed him the black coffee as the older shuffled around in his paper sack for the bagels. He pulled out two golden steaming bagels, they looked scrumptious and Hwitaek heard his stomach growling, he hadn't eaten dinner the night before and had worked through lunch. He felt bad for neglecting his stomach.

"Ah, so you haven't eaten either! I figured," Jinho smiled cutely and set a bagel in front of Hwitaek, who accepted it gratefully. It was hard to say no to Jinho, with his eye smile and his soft dimpled cheeks. Hwitaek couldn't think of a single person as gorgeous as Jinho.

He mulled over this thought as he munched on his bagel, not realizing the intensity with which he was staring at Jinho, who had quickly turned beet red.

"Hwitaek," he murmured, waving his hand in front of the younger's face, drawing him out of his trance.

"Fuck, sorry," Hwitaek blinked. "I'm still a little sleepy," he lied. The bagel had quickly gotten dry in his mouth, despite how delicious it was, so he set it aside and wiped his hands on a nearby towel.

Jinho didn't seem to mind too much as he sipped down his coffee and got distracted by something on his phone. It felt oddly comfortable and domestic, it made Hwitaek's insides warm and he couldn't help but indulge in the comfortable setting. He liked the quiet feeling of sitting across from Jinho, drinking coffee and occasionally sharing a glance before Jinho would smile, embarrassed.

There were few things that Hwitaek hated more than small talk and one of them was awkward silences, but with Jinho it was decidedly less awkward than he was expecting, it was a warm silence that filled the air. He had never easily trusted but something about Jinho's presence made him want to release all of his concerns and give this man all of his trust.

"Well, shit," Jinho sighed, eyes fixed on his watch. "I've gotta fly. Time went by faster than I thought. I'll text you later, are you still coming to the dinner tonight?"

"Is that tonight? I guess I don't have a choice if Adachi's going," he snorted. Everyone within a mile of their friend group knew that Wooseok was obsessed with Adachi Yuto and would bend over backwards to be in the same room as him. It was damn annoying sometimes - for Hwitaek anyways. Anytime any of them were meeting up, Wooseok would beg him to take him with him to hangout with them, claiming that he had no friends and needed company.

He always caved and said yes in the end.

"So I'll see you there," Jinho said, as Hwitaek began to stand up and wrap the remaining bagels, Jinho waved a hand and shook his head. "No, no, keep them. Feed them to the kid, he needs more than just your cooking to survive."

The wink that Jinho followed his sentence with made Hwitaek want to sink into the floor, he silently accepted the bagels and went to see Jinho out. He wasn't overly accustomed to smiling, but he managed a polite nod as the older made his way down the hall. He would've tried a smile but anymore they weren't for him and he felt like he looked horribly obnoxious.

 

 

 

By the time that it came for him to get ready for the dinner, Hwitaek had wasted his entire day. His off days were usually spent the same way, depressed and staring at the wall while nothing happens around him. It was always the same. He occasionally talked to Wooseok before the kid disappeared into his room to do his schoolwork or jack off to anime probably.

" _But you're coming, right?_ " Changgu asked through the phone speaker, sounding irritated. " _I mean we're all waiting for you and Jinho and Hongseok are getting pretty handsy. We need some sense here_."

Hearing that made Hwitaek want to throw himself off a roof, he grumbled to himself for a minute, the only other sound was Changgu's exasperated sighs on the other side of the phone.

"It's not that I can't come, but...I'm not feeling too great and I'm not sure if I'll be good company."

" _Any company is good company, right now_."

He hated arguing with Changgu, he was awfully nice, if not a bit short tempered. Was it okay to tell him no? To tell him that he wasn't coming because he wasn't emotionally up for hanging out with the boyfriend of the man he was in love with? He didn't even feel like hanging out with said man he was in love with...

"I'll be there in 20," he sighed, hanging up and setting the phone aside.

He changed his clothes, getting about halfway through putting his pants on before he got a text. He thought maybe it was from Changgu, telling him he didn't have to come - he hoped, really.

It was from Hyojong.

**Hyojong**

_yo, hongseok looks pretty good today, but let's be honest, you can do better._

He stared at the text, it wasn't worth it anymore, too much work for absolutely no reason at all. He knew that no amount of dressing up would ever help him compete against Hongseok, because he could never win against Hongseok. He would never have Jinho...but he could damn well do his best.

He swapped out his plain black jeans for the washed out ripped ones, the ones that showed his entire thigh. He grabbed his tight black pullover and ruffled his hair before heading to knock on Wooseok's door. He was pretty sure he was home, he was supposed to have come home an hour ago.

"Seokkie, you ready?" he asked, stepping back when the door swung open and Wooseok stepped out, mask already secured on his face. That struck Hwitaek as odd, but he brushed it off.

"Ready," his voice was muffled, but still loud and clear.

They walked together to the bus stop, Hwitaek's mind was elsewhere, but he stuck next to his trusty escort, who looked very imposing and certainly did not invite attention. As they walked, the weather slowly got darker and before long there was a slow drizzle starting. They caught the train to downtown Seoul and managed to arrive just in time for the rain to get really bad. Finally sheltered, they shook the water from their coats and headed up to the floor that Yan An's apartment was on.

They knocked on the door and Wooseok shuffled uncomfortably, shifting his mask up his face, which did not go unnoticed by Hwitaek. As the door swung open, Hwitaek put on his best poker face and turned to see Yan An. Tall, gorgeous, friendly Yan An. His soft smile was enough to make you give him your whole heart unconditionally.

"Hi, friends," he welcomed softly, moving aside so they could further enter the apartment, the smell of hot coffee and warm Chinese food. Yan An said it was never as good, but it was a nice slice of home, so he often ordered from a nearby Chinese restaurant.

The apartment was warm, as it always was, Yan An’s warm heart spread to his belongings, his home and even the way he dressed. He always looked like a trustworthy person that you could find comfort in the company of, he was wearing tan slacks and a soft blue sweater, the white collar of a button up sticking out over the top. He looked like one of those rich dad’s you might see in a CF, but he was simply too fluffy and adorable and Hwitaek almost wanted to hug him, but then he recoiled at the idea. Hugging was gross.

At Yan An’s dining table sat Yuto and Changgu, engaged in a friendly conversation, they barely looked up to wave as the two latecomers entered. In his living room was some horrific game of cards, that had Hyojong screaming - as usual, and Jinho cackling, while Hongseok sat behind him, rubbing his thighs approvingly. It seemed Jinho was winning.

They kicked off their shoes at the door and followed Yan An to the kitchen, where leftovers were still warm and sitting on the counter, surrounded by silver chopsticks and some paper plates. They ate quickly, listening to the card game grow more intense, before Wooseok eventually drifted over to butt into Changgu and Yuto’s conversation, much to Changgu’s annoyance.

Yan An smirked and looked at Hwitaek. “He’s still after him, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Hwitaek rolled his eyes.

“So, you ready? Now that you’ve eaten, I wanna get a look at that chest of yours, your breathing sounds a little off,” Yan An was beginning his check up early as he stepped forwards to probe at Hwitaek’s chest.

“Not...right now, please? I don’t want Wooseok to know, he’d be concerned and then get...fussy, I guess,” Hwitaek requested quietly.

The Chinese man held his gaze for three seconds before caving. “Very well.”

The bathroom door opened and Hyunggu came out drying his hands, he saw Hwitaek and grinned at him, skipping over to give him a hug. “Hey, hyung!” he chirped.

Hyunggu was the only one of the friend group that Hwitaek would allow to hug him randomly, he was a few days older than Wooseok, but he was full of energy and always bounded about, ready to love people. His heart was bigger than his chest, really.

Hwitaek did not hug him back, however.

The card game apparently had come to an end as Hyojong drifted into the kitchen, he looked Hwitaek up and down before giving him a little thumbs up. Hwitaek blushed furiously, he really didn’t want Hyojong to embarrass him in front of everyone.

Jinho was close on Hyojong’s heels, jeering about winning, but he stopped when he saw Hwitaek. He gave him a tiny smile and raised the beer glass in his hand, as if to wordlessly say hello. Hwitaek simply dipped his head in response.

Watching the way Jinho moved across the kitchen, approaching Hwitaek, he felt his heart still. He was getting too close now and right once Hwitaek thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest, Jinho reached around him and snatched up a piece of steamed broccoli. He beamed at Hwitaek as he popped the broccoli into his mouth. He looked like one of those seductive models that ate strawberries for no real reason, it made Hwitaek want to die.

The small older male nearly pranced out of the room, satisfied with his snack and his beer, he went back to sit on the living room floor, suddenly demanding that everyone come play a game. Hwitaek remained rooted to his spot, his heart still beating wildly and his face flushed red. He was thankful that everyone was distracted by the Jinho’s request and had meandered off into the living room, he didn’t want anyone questioning his disrupted state right now.

He reached down and tugged at the waistband of his jeans, which were suddenly feeling a little more snug than they were when he showed up. The scent of Jinho still lingered in his nose, it was a mixture of cinnamon and beer, it was somehow incredibly arousing. He cleared his throat lightly, thumb and forefinger still clutching his jeans as he walked into the living room. He felt eyes on him and looked up to lock gaze with Hongseok, who simply squinted at him, followed by a tight smile.

Oh fuck.

The last thing in the world that Hwitaek wanted was for Hongseok to catch on to his infatuation with Jinho, he knew that there was never any room for anyone else between them and he also knew something else very important, he was much smaller than Hongseok and would die in a fight between them. Not that he was looking to fight anyone, but he could definitely be tempted if it was for Jinho.

For Jinho, sometimes Hwitaek wondered if he could do anything. He would throw himself in front of a car if the man asked, hell, he would kill Wooseok if he asked. Okay...that was a little extreme, Wooseok never hurt a soul.

In regards to the gentle giant, Hwitaek realized he’d forgotten to keep an eye on him, he didn’t want him to overcrowd poor Yuto. The kid had moved to Korea from Japan about two years ago, but he was still very private and didn’t look to be the type to want attention or physical contact with anyone, especially not loud and boisterous Wooseok.

He spotted the younger sitting on the couch, Changgu squished between him and Yuto, looking extremely uncomfortable as Wooseok probed Yuto with questions about...well, it appeared to be anything. Questions about his work, questions about Japan, about what kind of games they played there, questions about soccer, questions about anime. All of the usual subjects that Wooseok assumed Yuto would be interested in, which Yuto was apparently not, his gaze was elsewhere.

Hwitaek didn’t have the heart to tell Wooseok that his Japanese crush had only had eyes for Hyunggu all night, practically ogling the kid as he danced around the living room with Hyojong, giggling and snorting. Hyunggu was adorable and he was a really good dancer - he and Hyojong attended the same class six times a month - but most importantly, he seemed quite interested in Hyojong.

It was all a mess.

Wooseok was in love with Yuto, Yuto seemed quite interested in Hyunggu, Hyunggu was all over Hyojong, Hyojong was Hwitaek’s ex, Hwitaek was in love with Jinho, Jinho was dating Hongseok, Hongseok was a monster of a rival and everybody would die if they pissed him off. It seemed to make sense in Hwitaek’s mind.

“Sit down! Sit down!” Yan An insisted, flapping his hands at everyone, they seemed to listen to him and they slowly quieted down one by one. Butts hit the ground and assorted furniture, all heads turning attentively to the Chinese host. “Now, as no one seems able to decide on one game, I have decided on one myself. They play this often in America, Hongseok and I even played it when we went there-”

“You went to America with Hongseok-hyung?” Hyunggu interrupted, fascinated.

Yan An grew irritated by the interruption, but was also glad to inform Hyunggu that, “Hongseokkie and I met in China when he was there for school, then we both went to America through the same school, now we’re both here. However, don’t interrupt Hyunggu-ah, it’s rude,” he chided, before continuing his announcement. Yan An always sounded like a government official with his well practiced Korean. “It’s called Spin-The-Bottle.”

Groans erupted from the room and Hyojong seemed to grow excited as Changgu complained. “We know this game, Yan An! It’s no fun, it’s just weird!”

Yan An narrowed his eyes dangerously at Changgu and said, stiffly. “Prudes can stay out, see if I care.”

The challenge that Yan An had left hanging in the air seemed to egg everyone on and eventually, they had all agreed, albeit Changgu’s was hesitant. Yan An was pleased that they’d accepted his game invitation and he went in search of an empty beer bottle, which Jinho provided him with. Just how many had he drank already? Hwitaek’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, he used to think that Jinho was a light weight, but apparently not.

“Who wants to go first?” Yan An asked, eyes scanning the room in search of a victim.

Yuto slowly raised his hand, his face was drawn tight and he seemed hesitant, but before long his hand was fully extended and he looked confident. He spun the beer bottle, the sound of it spinning on the wooden floor made the suspension almost eerily, as everyone’s eyes were glued on Yuto, who kept his eyes glued to the empty bottle.

It stopped on Yan An, who seemed quite relaxed and lifted his chin, the smile on his lips made Yuto chuckle, before he quickly pressed their lips together and withdrew, a shy look on his face. Yan An had such calm behavior that it was easy not to be nervous around him, he was almost comforting.

The game went on, Hyojong kissing Changgu roughly, Hyunggu eagerly pecking a beet red Wooseok on the lips. Eventually it came around to Hongseok’s turn and he gave Jinho a little wink, as if he would somehow magically make it land on him. And it did, much to Hwitaek’s disgust, he even turned his head away as they kissed. Whoops and cheers came from almost everyone else in the room.

When Hwitaek’s turn came, he swallowed harshly and spun the bottle, watching it wobble and turn, the lip of the bottle could stop at anyone and Hwitaek didn’t really want it to stop at any of them. It slowed at Hyunggu, slowly twitching towards Jinho, Hwitaek’s stomach dropped. He looked away from the bottle as it came to a final stop.

He looked up, wanting to bury his face in his hands. He followed the mouth of the bottle to, not Jinho.

Hongseok.

Jinho’s burly chestnut skinned boyfriend gave Hwitaek a smirk, it looked villainous to Hwitaek, but probably friendly to everyone else. Before he could blink, Hongseok slammed his mouth to Hwitaek’s, his teeth barely scraping his lip. It lasted way longer than Hwitaek had expected, but seemingly not as long as Hongseok wanted. It was the most aggressive lip lock Hwitaek had ever partaken in. It almost felt like a warning.

As Hongseok relaxed back in his spot, Hwitaek felt everyone’s eyes on him, wide and surprised. He didn’t dare look at Jinho, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the older’s eyes move from Hwitaek to Hongseok and quickly Jinho cupped Hongseok’s chin, tugging him closer to kiss his boyfriend. Great, now Hwitaek had made Jinho feel possessive over Hongseok. What in the hell would ever make Jinho think that he wanted Hongseok? That he would try to take him from him?

 

 

The rest of the evening, Hwitaek was stiff, uncomfortable and bright red. He barely brushed lips with Hyojong and Yuto, before the game finally came to an end. He was relieved to hear Yan An say, “That’s enough. It’s late.”

Almost everyone helped Yan An clean up the mess from dinner, the only person who didn’t really help was Wooseok, who was sitting on the couch, arms folded over his chest, a small pout of his lips. Hwitaek wondered if it was because he hadn’t gotten a chance to kiss Yuto during the game.

“He’ll get over it,” Yan An’s warm voice came at his ear. “Shall we?” he offered Hwitaek his hand in a way that suggested something other than what they were doing, Yan An was making a harmless check up look like a quick fuck. But Hwitaek nodded and took his hand anyways.

“We’re heading out, Yan An, thanks for dinner!” Hongseok called cheerily, Jinho behind him.

Hwitaek felt Jinho’s eyes on him, they went from Hwitaek’s face, down to where he was clutching Yan An’s hand. Jinho’s gaze lingered for a second, before he slipped his own hand into Hongseok’s, squeezing it tightly. As they left, Jinho didn’t look away from Hwitaek until they were out the door.

 _Weird_ , Hwitaek thought. _Normally I’m the one staring_.

He followed Yan An to the back bedroom, the Chinese man telling the rest of his guests that they were just going to talk. “Feel free to see yourselves out! Thank you for coming!” he called over his shoulder as he closed the bedroom door behind them. “Alright off with your shirt, come on.”

Grudgingly, Hwitaek slipped his pullover off over his head, sitting down on the bed, eyes on Yan An. The doctor in training did not look pleased. He tutted as he examined Hwitaek, checking his heart rate and he took a small blood sample, muttering about taking it to his lab later. Sometimes Hwitaek thought about how great of a doctor Yan An would be someday, but other times he felt like Yan An was some mad scientist and Hwitaek was just a lab rat, waiting to be microwaved or some such horrible fate.

“Well, I’d need to run your blood to be sure, but from what I can see, you’re really not in great condition,” Yan An explained, his tone was firm, but his voice was soft. He had mastered the bedside manner of a good doctor already. “You really need to be eating more and I would appreciate it if you went out for a walk every now and then. You need the exercise and the sun. Also, stop stressing so much.”

Hwitaek listened to Yan An’s summary of his health, he didn’t really need Yan An to tell him that he was unhealthy, but he knew that his friend would never rest until he’d been given a chance to fully explain each issue. He was a good friend like that, to Hwitaek anyways, other people wouldn’t appreciate the bluntness from a non licensed medical professional.

“One more thing,” Yan An said as Hwitaek slipped his shirt back on, starting to stand up. “You really should stop pining over Jinho.”

“You could tell that by checking my heart rate?”

“I didn’t need to. I could tell by looking at your face during any of our recent meetups,” he gave Hwitaek a soft pat on the back, pushing him towards the door.

The hallway was brighter than Hwitaek remembered and he squinted a bit as he went into the living room, heading straight for the coat rack. “Okay, Wooseok, let’s go,” he said, slipping his coat on as his eyes fully adjusted. He looked around the living room. Wooseok was gone. “Dammit,” he whispered.

“Where’d the kid go?” Yan An frowned, checking the time. “The last bus probably already left. He probably didn’t want to miss it.”

Hwitaek sighed. He had noticed Wooseok’s pouty behavior before he’d went into Yan An’s room, he wondered if he’d done something to anger his roommate, he really didn’t want to face the wrath of the gentle giant. What if he locked him out or something? He tugged his jacket tight around himself and looked to see if the rain had stopped.

“It’s a long walk,” Yan An said tenderly. Hwitaek simply made a gruff sound of acknowledgement. “Stay here.”

“What a promiscuous offer,” Hwitaek commented blankly and Yan An laughed.

“Nevermind then. I’ll drive you.”

It was a long drive, nearly 45 minutes, but Yan An didn’t complain once, even though they both knew he had school in the morning. When they pulled up outside of his apartment, Hwitaek stared up at the leering building, wondering if Wooseok was even inside of if he’d been kidnapped or mugged and was lying on the street waiting for Hwitaek to come rescue him.

He had a wild imagination sometimes.

“Hyung,” Yan An pulled him from his thoughts. “This is your place, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Hwitaek climbed out, turning to look at his temporary chauffeur. “Yan An...what would you say if someone loved you, but could never have you?” he wasn’t sure when he started seeking Yan An’s life opinions, but he felt that he could trust him for some healthy advice.

Yan An seemed to be considering this for a long second, his hands loosening on the steering wheel. “I would say, that if the person who loved me truly thought that I would be better off with them than without, then I would want them to fight for me.”

“And what if you both knew that you were better off without them?”

A solitary laugh left the younger man’s mouth. He was so young, but his eyes looked so old, as if he had the universe in his thoughts. “I would tell them to move on.”

Hwitaek felt his heart sink ever so slightly, but he knew that Yan An was right. He accepted his answer and closed the car door behind him, allowing the medical student to begin his long journey back home. The rain had started again, ever so softly dripping down the back of Hwitaek’s jacket, making him shiver.

Wooseok was in the apartment, sitting on the couch in the exact same position he was when Hwitaek had last seen him at Yan An’s. “Why didn’t you wait for me?” Hwitaek huffed, coming in and leaving his shoes and jacket at the door.

“You were busy blowing Yan An,” Wooseok grumbled.

Unable to stop the disgusted look on his face, Hwitaek defended himself. “That is not what we were doing! But that doesn’t mean you should go alone, what if something had happened to you?”

“I’m not a child!” Wooseok spat suddenly.

Hwitaek stared at him incredulously. He knew that he should have said something akin to ‘ _I never said you were’_ or ‘ _You’re right, you are a responsible adult’_ or ‘ _It’s okay, I’m not really mad, just concerned’_. But no. Instead he said the dumbest thing that he could’ve.

“Then don’t fucking act like it!”

He watched as Wooseok slowly rose to his full height, an entire head taller than Hwitaek, his shoulders much broader and his hands the size of his face. If he wanted to, he could truly injure Hwitaek, he could do some real damage. He apparently did not want to as he simply puffed up and muttered, “I’m going to bed.”

The large boy moved faster than Hwitaek had thought him capable as he disappeared into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him with the force of a truck. Damn, he was getting strong.

Feeling like an absolute idiot, Hwitaek prepared for bed. He turned on his air purifier and listened to it hiss for a few seconds, before he took his clothes off and went to brush his teeth. He didn’t remember when he started being such an asshole, it just happened one day and it hadn’t really stopped. He decided he would have to look more into this.

At last, he climbed into bed and settled down to sleep, his last thought was - _I didn’t even thank Yan An for driving me. I really am a fucking asshole._

 

* * *

 

 

There was something satisfying about sleeping in, but extremely unsatisfying about realizing that you slept till 20 minutes before you had to be at work. Hwitaek nearly Naruto ran to the bus stop and requested a stop at the adult store, the driver giving him an odd look as he accepted an extra tip. Most bus drivers were hesitant about taking someone to the shop, but occasionally they would do it without complaint, regarding there was a little something extra for them.

Hwitaek walked in the door three minutes too late, expecting a scolding from Shinwon, who simply looked up from his magazine and said, as if musing to himself. “Oh you’re here?”

Grateful for Shinwon’s lack of mindfulness today, Hwitaek slipped on his work t-shirt from his locker and set about unloading the new batch of stock that needed shelving. Today he wasn’t really interested in staring at sex belts with graphic images on the packaging, so he tried not to look too closely as he hung them on the rack. There wasn’t much he was interested in today, until about halfway through his shift when his stomach started growling. He’d forgotten to eat.

He shrugged it off and drank more water as he worked, hoping that the growling would stop. As he finished the first box of stock, he went in search of another box to put on his cart, when he heard a familiar voice at the front of the store. He nearly slammed himself to the ground as he army crawled to the back of the stock room, whispering to himself under his breath. Not Jinho, not now. Definitely not Hongseok, not after last night.

There was nothing that an employee of an adult store could do that would be considered too far-fetched, most owners had seen it all, except perhaps Hwitaek climbing into a box half packed with condoms. He was grateful that they came in bulk orders and that he would be able to hide without even Shinwon finding him, except...

“What in the fuck are you doing?”

He barely peeked out of the top of the box to see Shinwon, hands on hips, staring at him like he was a spiked dildo, which were surprisingly a thing.

“Uhm-”

“Whatever. Just get out, I don’t want to know.”

He carefully climbed out, trying not to knock over the box. It was one thing to be caught in a box of condoms, it was another to be seen falling over on your way out of the condom box. Which was exactly what Hwitaek did, scraping his palms and chin on the ledge of the pallet in front of him, hissing as he made contact with the aged wood.

Now with splinters and scrapes, Hwitaek climbed to his feet, Shinwon still watching him. “Your friend is here to see you,” Shinwon sighed, shaking his head as he watched Hwitaek whip around in horror.

“To see me? What? Now? No! I’m...busy.”

“Jacking off in a box of condoms, I think not. Just get out there and make him go away, I don’t like tiny people like him.”

Hwitaek felt anger build in him at hearing Jinho insulted, his hands formed fists, his damaged palms making him cry out as he quickly unfolded his hands, examining his new injuries. He reluctantly stumbled out into the front of the store, walking towards the back of Jinho, which he could clearly see standing by the counter...alone. No Hongseok today.

“Hey Jinho,” he muttered as he approached, trying to sound entirely indifferent and not putoff at all.

“Hwi,” Jinho replied, turning to look at him. He wasn’t smiling. It was rare for Jinho to not be smiling. “I was wondering if I could get your help.”

“...Yeah?”

“Well, you see Hongseokkie’s birthday is coming up and I wanted to get him something special. He’s been wanting to try something out and I’m not super into it. But since it’s his birthday, I figure I would be willing to give it a try, for him, y’know?”

He sounded so casual. How could he discuss this so casually? He was literally telling Hwitaek that he wanted his help adhering to his boyfriends kinks, which was the exact opposite of what Hwitaek wanted to do at one o’clock in the afternoon.

“Um, sure...what’re you looking for?”

“...Paddles?”

Hwitaek grimaced internally, he didn’t like the images that appeared in his head. Jinho bent over on the bed in front of Hongseok, tied up with the pretty purple rope that Hwitaek had helped them pick out, whimpering and groaning as Hongseok smacked his ass with a paddle. Or maybe vice versa, maybe Hongseok liked to be spanked. The idea of Jinho wielding a paddle at anyone almost made Hwitaek moan right there in front of him.

He flushed red and bit his tongue furiously, beginning to mutter to himself about the different types of paddles there were, Jinho following him with a confused expression. “Hwitaek? Hello? Can you help me or not?” he sounded almost frustrated as Hwitaek wandered to a shelf full of various whips and crops of different shapes and colors.

“Yeah,” he grunted, motioning with his hand at the racks of paddles.

“Okay, you found them, good job. I was hoping you’d help me pick one out,” Jinho seemed to be running on a short temper today and it made Hwitaek want to run away screaming, not for any particular reason other than he didn’t want to put up with this.

“Mkay, let’s see,” he knelt down, looking at the rows of paddles, there were round paddles, leather bound paddles, narrow paddles, rubber gripped paddles and even some with tiny spikes. Oof, those would leave a mark. “How kinky are we talking?”

Jinho knelt down next to him, looking at them before leaning in conspiratorially. “I have no idea, that’s why I’m asking you,” he said loudly, near Hwitaek’s ear.

Hwitaek flinched and nodded. “Right. Um...okay, how much of an impression are you wanting to leave?”

Now Jinho’s expression turned almost frighteningly hungry as he said, almost as if to himself. “Oh, I wouldn’t want him to forget anytime soon.”

Seeing Jinho so distracted by Hongseok when he wasn’t even here, made Hwitaek fume silently, he turned back to the paddles. He scanned them for a second, before pulling a leather wrapped one off the hook. “These will leave a mark. For sure.”

“Good. Let’s try it out.”

Hwitaek’s eyes narrowed. “We don’t really have a mannequin or anything, but sometimes Shinwon-” he was cut off by a loud thwap that made him jump. He stared at Jinho’s thigh, where he had cracked the paddle down onto, a tiny whimper leaving the older’s mouth.

No, he shouldn’t be hearing that. He shouldn’t be seeing this. He felt himself harden slightly as Jinho lifted the paddle again and brought it down on the same spot of his thigh, a soft gasp following the whimper this time. Heat crept up Hwitaek’s face and he stared, mesmerized at Jinho’s face.

His chewed lip and his creased brows, his face lightly screwed up in an expression of pain, but in his eyes was something else. Something very dark that made Hwitaek look away, he shouldn’t be seeing this.

“This will do,” Jinho mused, leaning closer to press his lips to Hwitaek’s ear. “Thanks for helping me out. I owe you one.”

Just as quickly as he’d appeared and smacked himself, Jinho was disappearing, going to the cash register where Shinwon was waiting, wide eyed. Apparently he’d kept watch over their little exchange and was left just as impressed upon as Hwitaek was, but he was decidedly less hard. It was going to be a long day, Hwitaek realized.

 

 

By the time his work shift was over, he was dragging his feet and his hands hurt even more than before. He rode the bus home, staring out the window, trying not to touch his tender, abused palms to anything. He climbed off at the bus station that was about a block from his home, the walk to the apartment building seemed to take forever, the daunting reminder of Wooseok's bad mood looming over his head.

The apartment was seemingly empty, so he went about finding a bowl to fill with boiling hot water, adding a dash of soap and sitting with his hands in the bowl. He thought it was something like 10 minutes in the bowl, so he simply stared at the front of the fridge, zoning out entirely.

The door to Wooseok's bedroom opened, making Hwitaek jump and turn around, spilling a bit of hot soapy water on his leg, he winced. Wooseok looked sleepy and he could only guess that he was doing homework, he looked blearily at Hwitaek and his eyes seemed to widen at the bowl of water that his hands were placed in.

"Hyung, what happened?"

"A pallet," he sighed, turning his head to show off the scrapes on his chin.

Wooseok immediately went in search of their only first aid kit, which was buried somewhere in the storage closet. He withdrew some ointment and a small bandage, making quick work of patching up Hwitaek's jaw. He scrambled around a bit more, eventually pulling up a pair of tweezers.

"Lemme see those hands," his voice was soft.

There was one thing about Wooseok that would never change, he would always have such a big heart. Even if he was pissed at Hwitaek and thought that he was after Yuto - which he most certainly wasn’t. He thought maybe someday he’d have to tell Wooseok that it was Jinho he was interested in, but sometimes the thought of even telling Wooseok, his closest most trusted confidant, was the most horrifying idea to him.

Hwitaek held still as Wooseok pulled out each splinter, making the older flinch with each tug of the tweezers, his skin stung, but he held still for the younger. When Wooseok finished, he told Hwitaek to soak his hands for a bit more, while he found some ointment, but Hwitaek simply shook his head.  
  
“It’s okay,” he assured, dabbing his hands on a towel. He didn’t want to give Wooseok another reason to be mad at him, but he also didn’t want to be babied.

“Hyung,” Wooseok sighed, but it was obvious he’d already given in. He watched Hwitaek dry his hands for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and leaned against the counter. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left without you last night.”

The older set the towel aside and turned to face him. “Yeah, that’s that about anyways? Is it because I kissed Yuto?” he squinted curiously.

Wooseok reluctantly nodded. “I guess so. I just...”

“It was a game, Wooseok-ah,” Hwitaek chided softly, going to pat him on the arm before walking towards his room. “And we both know that Yuto wouldn’t want me anyways.”

He was hoping his words would incite some sense into the younger, that maybe he would see that Yuto wasn’t interested in him, but as it was, Hwitaek wasn’t going to get involved in Wooseok’s love life. He wanted nothing to do with that, he had enough problems with his own.

By the end of the day, he was regretting even waking up that morning. The house was a mess and he felt like shit, but he wasn’t going to do anything about either problem right now and decided that he’d grab a beer and watch a movie. However all of his beer was shit and he didn’t actually want to drink any - also he was slightly concerned of Wooseok finding him, the last scolding he’d gotten still fresh in his memory. _“Hyung! That’s not good for you! Eat more before you drink!”_

Normally scoldings didn’t bother Hwitaek, but when they were coming from a 188cm tall college student who was actively worried about your health, it was slightly more intimidating than most. He settled for just drinking water and he flipped through the channels, hoping to find something to watch. There wasn’t much that was interesting on TV right now, so he was grateful for the text he’d received from Hyojong, asking if he wanted to grab a drink with him. Good beer and no Wooseok, it sounded enticing enough.

They met at their usual bar, the dingy one that was a few minutes walk from Hyojong’s place, it wasn’t extremely expensive, but it also didn’t have a very clean record. If you asked Hwitaek, he was 85% sure that someone was murdered in the back room, once upon a time. Of course that was all just talk of the locals, but it certainly wasn’t reassuring for the regulars who still had their doubts.

Hyojong was dressed in his usual pair of jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt, he was leaning on the counter, flirting with the bartender, when Hwitaek came up and tapped him on the arm. “What’re you buying me?” he asked, sitting on the stool next to his friend.

“Well, hello to you too,” Hyojong muttered, before ordering another of what he had.

As they drank, they fell into their usual atmosphere of familiarity. They had always gotten along well, even just as friends, they were quite similar and their conversations - while vulgar in topic, were friendly and the kind that only good friends could manage to keep going. Even their small little habits and quirks were as familiar to the other as their own were, they had known each other for so long.

“Why did we never work out?” Hyojong slurred, struggling to focus on Hwitaek’s face. The soft features of the older were something that he didn’t want to miss out on.

Hwitaek laughed bitterly, no humor in his expression. “Because you’re a slut and I’m a prick,” he replied, draining the rest of his glass, not looking at his drinking partner.

“But we had fuuun, isn’t that what’s important?”

“It’s because you think that that we didn’t work, Hyojong, surely you see that?” Hwitaek squinted at him, his hair had fallen in front of his eyes and he blinked it away, trying to flip it away from his face.

“Whaddya mean?” was Hyojong’s response, his tone turning cold.

“There’s more to life than having fun. I understood that, you never did.”

“But,” Hyojong began, his butt sliding off his stool, throwing his body towards Hwitaek. “We were never looking for a life together. Just some temporary fun.”

Hwitaek’s eyes, while hazed from the alcohol, turned sharp and his gaze landed on Hyojong’s face, which was inches from his own. There was always a wit to Hwitaek’s eyes, it was intense and occasionally intimidating and Hyojong had always seen it, and more often than not, ignored it.

“And what’re you looking for now, Hyojong?”

Hyojong scooted even closer, his lips brushing against Hwitaek’s cheek. “Let’s get out of here, Hwitaek, come on, I’m bored.”

“Don’t you have a current thing?”

The younger chuckled, his lips spreading into a perky grin and he began mouthing along Hwitaek’s jaw. “Aww, come on, you and I both know that we’re more fun together.”

It didn’t take long for Hwitaek’s drunken mind to give in to Hyojong’s and they ended up right outside Hyojong’s apartment, the owner of which was fumbling for his keys, confused by the amount of keys he had despite only owning the one apartment. “I think it’s these...”

He tried it and the door rattled open with an extra push, Hyojong seemed pleased as he stepped inside, dragging Hwitaek behind him. They landed on the couch, all mouths and hands, their brains and hearts having no say in their activities. Hyojong’s mouth was as warm as Hwitaek’s remembered and Hwitaek’s mouth was as cold as Hyojong remembered. They were equal parts warm and cold and they battled for dominance, any feelings that used to be between them had long since fizzled out. Now it was just a craving that they both had, the need for sex and the lack of sense to care who it was with.

“See?” Hyojong growled, mouth latched to Hwitaek’s throat. “I told you you would want me back eventually,” he breathed.

“You don’t know anything about what I want,” Hwitaek replied bitterly, moving his knees to either side of Hyojong’s waist, pinning him to the couch.

“Sure I do. You want Jinho, but you can’t have him, you’ve got me instead.”

At the sound of his name, Hwitaek seemed to snap out of whatever haze he was in, thoughts of Jinho swarming his mind. Jo Jinho. The beautiful man who had walked into Hwitaek’s life two years ago with no warning of how he was going to affect him, there was no way he could’ve guessed falling head over heels for him, but it gradually happened over time. The amount of time was a mystery to Hwitaek, he had no time zone for when Jinho had stolen his heart, he had no time measure for how easily it was to be sucked up into the whirlwind of Jo Jinho. It was all too easy for Jinho, who must have been completely oblivious to the immense difference he’d made in Hwitaek’s life.

Jinho’s round face and soft voice pushed at the barriers of Hwitaek’s mind, and he felt himself pushing Hyojong away. “I can’t,” he murmured, his mind somewhere else, not focusing on what exactly was happening.

Hyojong seemed to have been expecting this and he sighed, climbing off the couch. He disappeared into his room for a minute, returning with a blanket that he threw at Hwitaek. “The couch is all yours,” he called over his shoulder before disappearing into his room.

It didn’t take long for Hwitaek’s drunken mind to lull him to sleep, Jinho’s presence still encasing his thoughts and now, his dreams.

 

* * *

 

 

_Teeth clashing with teeth, skin pressed tight together, moans and whimpers and a pant of breath as their bodies slid against the others. Teeth sunk into his shoulder, drawing blood as he pounded into the smaller body, his orgasm overwhelmingly close._

_"Hwitaek," Jinho breathed against his skin, his body shuddering under the whisper._

_"Fuck."_

A high pitched whirring jolted him from his dream, the jeans he'd fallen asleep in were squeezing his erection painfully and he grumbled as he pulled himself upright. His head turned to look at his surroundings, he was in a dingy living room that was poorly lit by a half opened curtain that showed the sun outside. He squinted and looked to his right, to see a small kitchen that looked rarely used, Kim Hyojong was standing by the counter using a coffee grinder to prepare his morning pot of coffee. He didn't look up when Hwitaek stood up.

His erection was a growing issue right now, his burning hot dream still fresh in his memory and his pants growing ever tighter. He plodded down the hall to the bathroom and ducked inside, quickly undoing his pants. He just thought to lock the door, when he started palming himself gently, images from his dream swirling through his mind. He didn't want to make a mess of Hyojong's bathroom, so he stuck to palming himself until he came in his pants, feeling a bit immature. He knew he'd need a change of clothes anyways.

Head throbbing from his hangover, he headed back to the living room, looking around for Hyojong, who had disappeared. He walked into the small kitchen, taking a deep sniff, the only scent was the coffee that was brewing in the small 6 cup pot on the counter. He mentally willed it to brew faster, while he went in search of his shoes. He'd kicked them off somewhere, he was sure of it.

"You're still here?" Hyojong sounded genuinely surprised as he exited his bedroom, wandering back towards the kitchen.  
"Yeah," Hwitaek muttered, rubbing his face.

"About last night," Hyojong began, before disappearing into his pantry, looking for something. When he reappeared, he continued talking as if he'd never stopped. "Um, I'm sorry. I'm glad you stopped me. I was drunk and we...we ended a long time ago, I had no place in trying to make it a thing again."

"It's okay," Hwitaek replied under his breath. In truth, he himself felt bad about the previous night, he actually felt bad about his whole breakup with Hyojong, it had been rough and awkward and while they'd agreed to be friends, it was still a friendship built on shaky grounds and the amount of trust between them was most likely misplaced. It'd always been difficult for them to communicate their feelings, that's why they thought they'd be such a good pair but in the end it was that exact same trait that had been their downfall.

Hwitaek left, dizzy and without a word. He took the bus back home, having to squeeze between two old men who seemed to be off to work, they both smelled terrible. He stared out the window and tried to hold his breath, before awkwardly bowing his head and settling for standing, his hand holding onto the pole for dear life. His balance was not good right now.

When the bus jolted to a stop, he nearly fell over, but managed to hang onto the pole with enough to strength to right himself. He shuffled off with the other passengers, wondering when buses became so packed with people, he thought every bought cars these days? The streets were loud, so damn loud, but he managed to stumble down the three blocks straight and one block to the left until he got to his apartment. The door was unlocked, so he stumbled in, not even trying to be quite. He wasn't sure what time it was and he didn't care.

The couch was way farther away than it had to be and he nearly fell on the floor before he was finally seated on the furniture. His stomach was twisting in horrible knots and if he was lucky, he'd puke on the floor. Wooseok would not be happy if he threw up in the couch, not like he'd be pleased with the floor either but he would at least appreciate Hwitaek's ability to think and then vomit.

He laid there for what felt like forever, drifting in and out of sleep, his body didn't feel tired but opening his eyes hurt, so he stayed where he was. The sound of the door slamming jolted him from his sleepy state and his eyes narrowed angrily to squint at Wooseok standing with Yan An in front of him.

"What're you doing here?" Hwitaek grumbled, blinking against the light.

Yan An sighed and walked forwards. "Wooseok said you drank too much, so I brought dinner and a hangover cure," he set a bag on the counter and rummaged through it, the crinkling plastic was so loud. As Hwitaek grumbled again and tried to roll over and hide his face, Wooseok's hands closed around his shoulders, he was tugging him upright.

"Nooo," the older whined, hands scrambling for purchase on Wooseok's arms, he couldn't find the strength to shove him away. He was pulled into a sitting position and a hand on his thigh and one on his hip to push him, his back hitting the cushion behind him. "I can do it."

Yan An was stirring something in a glass, the color was beginning to put Hwitaek off, but he also knew that Wooseok wasn't past wrestling him if it came down to that. So he did as he was told when Yan An instructed him to drink and he swallowed down the vile tasting liquid, the flavor of vomit building in the back of his throat. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the drink or the alcohol, but - with the assistance of Wooseok - he made his way to the bathroom.

It was a long day.

 

* * *

 

Hwitaek had never been afraid of Hongseok, per say, but apparently when Hwitaek ran into him later that week would the one time he would feel a modicum of fear due to him. Hwitaek was having a drink with Yan An - who was insistent that he let him keep an eye on his alcohol intake - and went to the bathroom, he was washing his hands when Hongseok came out of the stall from behind him and he almost had a heart attack.

He prayed Hongseok wouldn’t see him, but then suddenly he was behind him and he gave him a nod and a wave. “Hey,” he said, washing his hands in the sink next to Hwitaek.

He nodded in return, he had alcohol in his system, the fewer words he used the better.

“On a date?” Hongseok asked, trying to engage in polite conversation.

“No.”

“Okay...” Hongseok pursed his lips and stared at the towel dispenser, watching Hwitaek slowly take exactly 9 pieces of paper towel to dry his hands. His expression screamed ‘What the fuck’.

Drunk Hwitaek was apparently pettier than he was expecting and wanted to inconvenience Hongseok in whatever way he could, even if he used twice the amount of towels he needed.

“So, Jinho said you helped him set up the birthday party. Thanks, you should’ve come,” Hongseok said, but the ‘you should’ve come’ was about the most insincere thing Hwitaek had ever heard in his life.

“I had work,” Hwitaek answered. He didn’t want Hongseok to know that he had helped with the...other birthday preparations, so he tried to rush out of the bathroom.

“Hey Hwitaek,” Hongseok said, slowly walking over and leaning against the door, his hand holding it in place, blocking Hwitaek from being able to leave. “Y’know, you and Jinho...your friendship’s a little weird. Jinho’s kinda feeling a little...crowded. I mean we both know that you’re a little rough around the edges - socially. You kind of weirded him out the other day.”

Hongseok’s words passed over his head, but the frustration in his eyes were apparent and he couldn’t help but recoil a bit. “Okay,” he said quietly, wondering what he’d done to make Hongseok feel threatened by him.

“Okay, cool,” Hongseok flashed him a grin and stepped out of the way. “Have fun on your not date.”

As Hwitaek made his way back to his table, he saw Hongseok sitting at the bar with a cute guy that Hwitaek didn’t recognize. Weird.

* * *

 

The week had passed by in a bit of a blur, Hwitaek spending most of his time at the store, helping a woman with her unimaginably disturbing problem with a product, which had resulted in getting yelled at and having to clean four dildos and throw away an entire set of belts. He had to listen to Shinwon’s grumbles about the money that they’d lost from this and the entire time Hwitaek was fuming while he scrubbed his hands.

His work shift was over, it was Friday, thank god, which meant he had the weekend off. But at the same time, as it was Friday, that meant that Hongseok and Jinho were hosting a dinner and he was expected to attend. The last thing he wanted to watch them cuddle on their couch, all hands and lips and occasional tongues, in front of everyone.

When he got home, he was met with a hug from Wooseok, who seemed distressed to say the least. He held him for several minutes, allowing him to tell him what was wrong in his own time, he rubbed his back gently. Hwitaek may be prickly more often than not, he may even be callous at times, but when it was needed, he gave some amazing hugs.

“Hyung,” came the surprisingly high pitched whine from the giant student.

“Wooseokkie,” he murmured in return, his face pressed against the younger’s chest.

“Yuto-kun and Hyunggu-shi are dating.”

Hwitaek sighed. He should have expected this, he had a silent I-told-you-so moment to himself, but aloud, he simply murmured. “I’m sorry,” in a muffled voice as Wooseok squeezed him tightly.

After several minutes spent consoling the distressed kid, Hwitaek had a sudden idea. “Hey, you don’t want to go to the dinner and see them together, right?” Wooseok nodded. “What if...you came with a boyfriend of your own?”

Wooseok frowned at him, his thick eyebrows creasing over his narrowed eyes, disagreement written on his face. “Hyung, I don’t think anyone would believe that you are I are dating...”

“Yuck!” Hwitaek’s nose crinkled. “Not us, stupid. Shinwon-ah.”

“Your boss?”

“Co-worker,” Hwitaek could tell that Wooseok wasn’t buying this idea with any amount of enthusiasm, in fact he seemed quite perturbed at the idea. “And think, even if they’re not bothered, at the very least, you don’t have to be alone the whole time. Shinwon’s super clingy.”

“You say that as if you’re not going,” Wooseok frowned at him, standing up. “Hyung, you can’t leave me to go alone!”

There was a fine line that Hwitaek walked between having friends and obligations, Wooseok was a friend, Shinwon was an obligation, his little gang of people, was starting to feel a bit more like obligations recently. Even Jinho, who showed no signs of really wanting to spend time with Hwitaek, unless Hongseok was there, wasn’t really feeling like a friend recently.

“I-I mean, I don’t-”

“No,” the younger’s voice dropped to a concerning level as he stepped forwards. “You’re not going to hide this time. Especially since I know you’re hiding from Jinho, you need to face him. Hell, tell him how you feel, so he at least knows.”

God, it was annoying when the kid was right.

“Great in theory, terrifying in reality, thanks though,” Hwitaek retorted, going towards the kitchen, only to be stopped by a firm hand on his arm.

“Hyung,” Wooseok’s voice was oddly soft. “If I can do it...so can you.”

 

 

Forty minutes and a long argument about which pair of pants looked the “most bomb” on each other and they were knocking on the door to Hongseok’s apartment, a bag of chips in Hwitaek’s hand. It wasn’t required to bring something, but it was more than appreciated and Hwitaek was a cheapskate.

“Hey,” Jinho greeted quietly, opening the door wider for them to come in. Everybody was already here, there were a few empty beer cans already and Changgu was loudly telling a story, with lots of laughing and clapping - only coming from him, few others looked interested.

Jinho may have been small, but his tight pants made his legs seem longer and his oversized sweater showed his collarbones in just the right way, that made Hwitaek want to shove him against the wall and bite the protruding little knobs of his collar. He gave Hwitaek a doey eyed smile and then disappeared into the kitchen.

Looking around, Hwitaek noticed a few people that he didn’t know, he studied their faces trying to see if they were even slightly familiar, but only one of them was. He was sitting on the arm of Hongseok’s chair, he had a serious looking face, but when Hongseok said something that made him laugh, a dopey smile spread across his face. He was the guy that Hongseok was at the bar with a little over a week ago, when he’d threatened Hwitaek.

After collecting a beer, he paced around the room a bit, until a boy the same height as Wooseok walked up to him, he had dark skin and face was round and soft looking, he looked like he might have some extra weight once but was all muscle now. He gave Hwitaek a small shy smile.

“Hi,” he said as he approached.

Hwitaek couldn’t help the way his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked the kid up and down. “Do I know you?” he asked, an eyebrow quirking upwards.

A slightly hurt expression crossed the kid’s face and he bit his lip, suddenly looking very lost. Hwitaek felt bad immediately and opened his mouth to correct himself, but a very small man - good lord he was even smaller than Jinho - appeared at his elbow. “It’s okay, Chanwoo. Hongseok said that Hwitaek isn’t super friendly.”

It was true, Hwitaek had never been considered a friendly person, but for some reason hearing that Hongseok had said it made Hwitaek’s competitive side strike up. He flared his nostrils and stuck out his hand. “Chanwoo, was it? And you are...?” he shook the tall one’s hand before turning to the miniscule man and staring at him coldly.

“Jinhwan. Kim Jinhwan, but you can call me anything you’d like,” he chuckled, shaking Hwitaek’s hand. His hand was soft, but his eyes were steely, he seemed to be staring at every inch of Hwitaek he could see, it felt like his gaze was eating him alive. Disturbing.

“And you know Hongseok, how?” Hwitaek wasn’t very fond of other people’s friends, he had a hard enough time liking his own.

“I went to college with him, but I’m here for Jinho, actually. I like him more,” the little man laughed, he seemed to be interesting enough, but he also seemed slightly...thirsty, was that the right word? “Chanwoo’s dating our other college mate, Junhoe, so he’s a tag along. I see you brought your own tag along.”

The idea of Jinhwan looking at Wooseok the way he’d just been looking at Hwitaek, made him suddenly very uncomfortable and he quickly looked around to find his roommate, satisfied when he saw him talking with Hyojong. He was sitting down, so his butt was safe from Jinhwan’s gaze...for now.

“Yeah,” was all Hwitaek said in response, before muttering, “I need a beer.” and heading for the kitchen. The little man was unsettling and considering that he was a friend of Jinho’s, Hwitaek didn’t want to say anything that would give him a reason to tell on him to Jinho. He didn’t want rumors of him being ‘unfriendly’ spreading to the one person that he actually felt real emotions towards. Well, real emotions that weren’t disgust or disapproval.

Changgu was sitting in the kitchen, cheering as Hyojong did shots off Yuto’s surprisingly sturdy arm. Hyunggu was weakly cheering them on as well, seeming more interested in Hyojong than Yuto, no surprise. Hwitaek leaned against the counter, watching with slight amusement written in his eyes. It was more like a frat party here, than a dinner party. Was there even food here? A substantial meal?

“They never really grew out of their college years, it seems,” Jinho’s voice made Hwitaek jump, but seeing his warm expression was a welcome sight and Hwitaek’s insides warmed a bit.

“You read my mind.”

Jinho laughed and leaned against Hwitaek’s shoulder, soft hair brushing against his ear, making him twitch. “I thought Hyunggu liked Hyojong,” Hwitaek leaned down to whisper, his lips right near Jinho’s temple. “Why is he dating Yuto?”

“I think he realized that Hyojong would never take him, so he decided to get whatever he could get. He doesn’t seem very happy though,” Jinho’s head tilted more into Hwitaek’s neck and he squinted at the violet haired boy who was meekly clapping as Yuto downed a shot from his own bicep. “Did Wooseok take the news okay? He hung up as soon as I told him, so I didn’t get much of a chance to gauge his temper.”

Hwitaek blinked at his words, first of all the idea of Wooseok hanging up on his hyung was funny, the kid was all about respect, and secondly...Jinho had called him? “Oh, um, he was okay, I guess. It took a few minutes, but he eventually decided to face them on his own, without making a fuss,” he swallowed dryly. “Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?” Jinho blinked up at him.

“Telling him ahead of time. I wouldn’t want him to walk into this mess blind.”

A tiny smirk appeared on Jinho’s lips. “To be honest, I didn’t do it for him.”

Hwitaek opened his mouth to ask, _if not for Wooseok, than who?_ but was interrupted as Yan An walked by and tapped his arm. His eyes followed the Chinese man as he held out two fingers and crooked them inwards, a silent ‘follow me’.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, carefully and reluctantly sliding from underneath Jinho’s head, the older giving him a small nod.

He followed Yan An into the closest bathroom, the younger giving him a tight lipped face. Hwitaek sighed. “Just tell me,” he insisted.

“You’re really sick. Your blood sugar is terrible and to be honest, right now, you look like shit.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“No, it’s bad. You’re pallor is weird and-”

“Not that! I mean, I can’t be really really sick or else I would’ve noticed,” Hwitaek interrupted, waving a hand.

“Oh. Well, from your blood? I got that your blood sugar is low. From looking at you, I got that you’re really sick. And don’t think it has nothing to do with how drunk you were last week. Lemme feel you,” he reached out a hand that Hwitaek ducked away from.

“You can’t go around feeling people, Yan An, you’re not in China anymore!” he had meant for it to be funny, but he felt bad after it came out. Yan An didn’t seem genuinely offended as he smacked Hwitaek over the head.

“Hold still, you little fucker,” he grunted, as he manhandled Hwitaek to turn around as he slipped a hand up under his shirt and pressed it to his back. “You’re running a fever, did you know?”

Hwitaek rolled his eyes, no he didn’t know. “Of course, I knew. It’s my fever, I can tell when it’s there,” he lied, but was sure that Yan An saw through it. Yan An saw through everything, it seemed, even his clothes as he began listing off things.

“Your back is clammy, you’re gonna need some ice. You look like shit, so don’t drink any beer and there’s plenty of food in the dining room, either you eat some, or I give you an enema,” his voice was stern, but of course it was full of care, it was Yan An after all.

Hwitaek agreed to do whatever Yan An wanted him to do, which of course he wouldn’t but he was pleased that Yan An didn’t know just how stubborn he could be. He returned to the party, knowing that Yan An had a close eye on him, but they weren’t the only eyes following him. A quick glance around the room told him that several people were watching him closely and he frowned to himself. _What the hell? When did he start garnering attention like this?_

He went back to the kitchen, disappointed to see that Jinho was nowhere to be seen and Hyojong had successfully convinced Changgu to snort powdered sugar, which caused a bit of a mess as Wooseok was claiming that he could snort more than that. Hwitaek sat on a nearby stool to watch the rest of this play out, one of Hongseok’s college buddies seemed to want to join in and was now going toe-to-toe with Wooseok in a sugar snorting competition.

It lasted for about 20 minutes before Hongseok found out and told them off for huffing all of his sugar, “I need that for baking!” he complained, swatting at their butts and chasing them out of the kitchen. Hwitaek sipped on some water, his spine felt a little weird. Like he was being watched again.

Carefully turning to look behind him, he suddenly locked eyes with what appeared to be an angel. He was gaunt, a little too gaunt and had golden hair that hung down around his eyes, he was watching Hwitaek with interest. There was someone next to him, a taller dark skinned man who looked identical to the Chanwoo kid that he’d run into earlier, in fact Hwitaek had thought he was him at first, but his clothes and hair confirmed that it wasn’t.

Hwitaek simply nodded at them, shocked by how gorgeous they both were and they smirked and nodded in return. He turned back to stare at the clock on the stove, wondering when was an appropriate time to leave. _And why were all of Hongseok’s friends so creepy??_

A hand was on Hwitaek’s back suddenly, making him jump and he turned to see Wooseok looking snorted-out, his nose was tinted white and his eyes were a bit wider than normal. “Hey, I’m just about done here, if you want.”

“Was it that obvious?” Hwitaek groaned.

“Yeah,” Wooseok pursed his lips and then glanced over to the living room where Yuto and Hyunggu were sitting. Hyunggu was in Yuto’s lap, head ducked while he scrolled through something on his phone and Yuto sat with a hand on one of Hyunggu’s thighs, the other on his hip. He looked happy just to be sitting there.

“Oh. Yeah, we should go.”

“Go? You’re leaving so soon?” Jinhwan appeared next to Hwitaek, that kept happening...

Wooseok looked all the down at Jinhwan, his neck craned to look at him, he looked like one of those great danes dogs looking at a mouse, which Jinhwan was definitely akin to. But the small man seemed unfazed by Wooseok’s size, he simply smirked at him before turning to Hwitaek.

“But the party’s only just started, I heard Hongseok was going to reinitiate the spin the bottle game that you all played before, something it being more fun with more people,” he leaned an arm against Hwitaek’s shoulder, pressing his body close to his. He smelled faintly of cats and lube, which made Hwitaek’s nose crinkle, he worked at a sex shop, he was very familiar with the smell of lube.

Jinhwan somehow got ahold of Hwitaek’s arm, who grabbed onto Wooseok’s sleeve in self defense and managed to drag them both to the living room, where Hongseok insisted they sit down for spin the bottle. Jinhwan may have been the size of a child, but Hwitaek wasn’t afraid to beat the shit out of him.

As soon as all 16 people were seated in a circle on the floor, Hwitaek began to feel a bit overwhelmed at the idea of kissing any of these people, especially Jinho. The idea alone made him feel weak in the knees.

“I’ll go first,” Hongseok said, smirking and reaching out towards the empty bottle that sat in front of him. It spun and landed on Yan An, who gave Hongseok a smirk. It was a boring kiss, only a few weak cheers were offered.

Yan An spun and landed on a wide faced boy with white hair, who gave him an arrogant look and said. “I’m Junhoe and I’m a great kisser.” Yan An waved his hand as if to say ‘yeah yeah’ and then grabbed the boy’s face and Frenched the life out of him. The loudest cheer came from Junhoe’s boyfriend, Chanwoo, who was laughing so hard, beer was leaking out of his nose.

The game went by fairly quickly, Junhoe kissed Hyunggu, Hyunggu kissed Hongseok’s squinty eyed friend with the bunny teeth - who seemed to be the only decent person that Hongseok went to college with. He had an English name, Bobby. Amusingly enough, Bobby’s bottle landed back on Hyunggu and he kissed him shyly, Hyunggu then kissing another of Hongseok’s friends, who kissed Yan An. Yan An was a very aggressive kisser, he used an excessive amount of tongue sometimes. Hwitaek, sitting next to him, had a hard time watching.

When Yan An’s bottle stopped on Hyunggu, Hwitaek thought that the violet haired kid would have a heart attack, but surely Yan An would see that and would go easy. Nope. He retaught Hyunggu the meaning of French kissing. The bottle spun and it slowed at Hwitaek, his heart stopped a beat, he really didn’t want to kiss Hyunggu. But lo and behold the bottle stopped at Yan An again and everyone began laughing, Hyunggu’s face flushing red.

Yan An kissed Hyunggu tenderly and patted his burning cheek, “I guess we’ll know each other a lot better by the end of the night.”

The bottle stopped at Jinhwan on Yan An’s spin, Hwitaek made a face and looked away, the small man seeming all too eager to taste Yan An’s mouth. Jinhwan’s spin landed on Bobby, Bobby’s on poor poor Wooseok, who seemed ever so slightly traumatized afterwards. Wooseok’s landed on Hongseok and Hwitaek swore he could hear him gulp from across the room. Hongseok gave him a cold peck on the lips, before pulling away. Hongseok actually seemed slightly off, now that Hwitaek was noticing him. He was seated next to Jinho, both of them were quite stiff, Hongseok’s arms crossed defensively and his shoulders squared. Jinho was fiddling with his hands in his lap, head ducked, not paying attention to the game.

When Hongseok spun the bottle, it circled the room imposingly, no one really wanting to kiss him while he was acting like this, it landed on Changgu, who did his clapping laugh and tried to liven the atmosphere. He kissed Hongseok dramatically, but the recipient ended it within a second. When Changgu’s bottle landed on Hongseok again, the younger laughed exaggeratedly and started to sit up, but Hongseok murmured for him to spin it again.

It landed on Jinho. Hongseok’s expression grew dark and before he had a chance to open his mouth and protest, Jinho shot across the room to kiss Changgu deeply. It was almost mesmerizing to watch, the way their mouths fit together was interesting, especially from Hwitaek’s angle. He could watch Jinho kiss all day, but at the same time he would rather it be himself than anyone else.

Especially not Jinhwan, who was who Jinho’s spin had landed on, Hwitaek felt irritation build in him but he bit it back. Jinhwan was quite handsy, he’d quickly realized, watching the way his hands clutched at Jinho’s hair as they kissed. It was still just as hot as his kiss with Changgu, if not more so, but there was bitter feelings as Hwitaek had formed a dislike for Jinhwan rather quickly.

However watching Jinhwan’s bottle land on Hyojong was a relief, it dawned on Hwitaek that this could be the start of something beautiful, they would look good together. Hwitaek took a drink of water as he watched Hyojong spin the bottle, his thoughts filled with how to force them together, when the bottle stopped at Yuto, he almost spit out his water.

Hyunggu’s eyes widened as he watched his new boyfriend give his crush a very open mouthed kiss, his eyes hit the ground and he stared there, a pout forming on his lips. Yuto kissed Changgu next, who was as loud and...clappy as ever. Changgu kissed Hongseok’s friend Bobby, who seemed instantly mesmerized by Changgu’s visuals. He was gorgeous and even more attractive, when he was coming towards you, batting his eyelashes and then kissing you.

When Bobby spun and it landed on Jinho, Hongseok seemed to be genuinely angry, as he watched how quickly Jinho responded to this one. Hwitaek wondered just how much more he could take, before his neck veins burst. Jinho’s bottle landed on Yuto and again, the older was up before the bottle even stopped and he had his lips on Yuto’s in the blink of an eye. He kissed the Japanese boy for exactly 8 seconds, not that Hwitaek was counting of course.

But it was 8 seconds, of watching Hongseok’s eyes glide around the room, looking anywhere but where literally everyone else was looking. His hands balled into fists as he fumed silently. He wasn’t much happier when Yuto’s bottle landed back on Jinho and the Japanese boy laughed a bit, before kissing Hongseok’s boyfriend one more time, with a little extra teeth this time.

 _5, 5 times, so far. How many more, Hongseok?_ Hwitaek thought.

Jinho’s bottle landed on the kid that Hwitaek had talked to earlier, Chanwoo, Junhoe’s boyfriend. The kid seemed nervous and accepted a light, short kiss from Jinho, who smirked a bit and ruffled his thick locks.

Chanwoo ended up kissing the other guy who looked like him, which was more than weird, who’s bottle landed on Hyunggu. Immediately he protested. “Ahh whyyyyy? My lips are chapping! I can’t do this anymore, I’m out,” Hyunggu pouted, scooting his butt back so his back was against the couch.

“Fair enough,” the guy shrugged and spun it again. He ended up getting to French kiss Yan An, beats a half-assed smooch with Hyunggu, in Hwitaek’s opinion. Yan An then kissed the cute one who had been hanging on Hongseok earlier and at the bar, it surprised Hwitaek to see Hongseok look bothered by it. Weird.

He got distracted by keeping an eye on Hongseok, that he jumped when a soft voice in front of him said, “Hey.”

The cute one was looking at him with an awkward smile and before he knew it, he was closing in on his lips. Hwitaek sucked in a breath right as the stranger’s lips met his, he was kissing a stranger, what an odd thought. It was a nice kiss too, it wasn’t too dry or too cold, so that was always a bonus. Hwitaek was grateful no one could read his thoughts to hear him analyzing this kiss, the thought made him laugh. Right into the stranger’s mouth, his puff of laughter filling the other’s cheeks.

“Ugh, ew,” Hongseok’s friend laughed, pulling away and giving Hwitaek a smirk. “Was it that bad? That you laughed at me?”

Hwitaek was at a loss for words, so he simply shook his head, an apologetic bow was all he offered as a reply. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Hongseok looking even more furious, _what the hell was his problem?_ He hated when it was his turn, watching the bottle spin so ominously around the room, but he mustered up enough confidence to reach forwards and smack the neck, watching the way the glass warped the light reflection as it spun.

The bottle slowed at Hongseok and Hwitaek’s mind was screaming, _No! Anyone but him!_ , but it continued and stopped next to him. Jinho. Time seemed to stop around Hwitaek, the one person who he couldn’t stop think about kissing was currently staring directly into his eyes, both of them seemingly frozen to the spot. The one time that Jinho didn’t leap forwards to kiss, was when it was on Hwitaek, was it because the idea of kissing Hwitaek was that bad? That he was frozen in terror? Hwitaek was terrified too, but only because he knew that if this happened, there was no going back, the second Jinho’s lips touched his, that would be the end of his self control and he would be so in love that he wasn’t sure he could just be friends with him.

He might have to not see Jinho anymore at all, after this. What if that happened? What if Jinho never talked to him again?

His thoughts swirled horrifically before his eyes, giant blinking red words that said: **DON’T DO THIS** were right in front of him, screaming at him to not do it. A light tap on his arm and Hyojong’s voice whispering, “Kiss him.” was all he needed. He carefully got up on his knees, noticing that Jinho was doing the same. Hongseok looked murderous next to him.

_No, don’t look at Hongseok, how stupid are you? You’re about to kiss his boyfriend._

Meeting him in the middle, Hwitaek suddenly found himself face-to-face with Jinho, it felt like one of those stupid scenes from a movie, where the teenagers are at the prom and meet in the center of the dance floor. But this wasn’t a movie, it was real life, and a real Jo Jinho who was about to kiss him.

_Should I close my eyes? No, don’t close your eyes. Should I open my mouth? Oh, disgusting, no, don’t do that._

He leaned closer, deciding to take it slow, the slower the better, seem hesitant. He didn’t get a chance to hesitate, he blinked and suddenly Jinho’s mouth crashed into his, his mouth open as he nearly knocked Hwitaek over. Hwitaek’s mind stopped working. Jinho’s tongue forcefully pried Hwitaek’s mouth open and he felt his heart begin to race as it slid warm and secure against the top of his mouth. His teeth were pressed into Hwitaek’s bottom lip and bit into his skin slightly, a soundless whimper just barely leaving Hwitaek.

_Shit. Did he hear that? There’s no way anyone but him heard that. Still...shit._

When Jinho pulled away, it took every muscle in Hwitaek not to chase after the kiss, he so desperately wanted Jinho’s lips back on his, but he shut up and sat back down, feeling Hyojong’s elbow dig into his side as his friend wheezed.

“Stop,” Hwitaek hissed as Hyojong shook with laughter. He didn’t dare look at anyone else, he kept his eyes glued to the carpet. There was no way he could continue with this game. _Don’t think about it or you’ll get hard, don’t do that. Fuck, don’t do that._

“Well, I don’t think anyone can top that. Hwitaek, you win. I’m gonna go home,” Yan An announced, clapping his hands together and standing up. He began picking up the empty beer cans, but Hongseok’s stern voice broke through the clatter of aluminum.

“Leave them. Go home. All of you.”

He didn’t need to speak twice as everyone seemed to practically run out the door, they gathered their coats, Hwitaek managing to push through people to grab Wooseok. He whispered a “let’s go” and dragged the younger out the door with him. Before they reached the streets, Jinhwan managed to stop them.

“Give me your number?” he whispered in Hwitaek’s ear, after catching onto his sleeve.

It was a cool night, the wind was soft but the air was damp, it must be close to raining. The sky was dark, stars could faintly be seen through the streetlights, tiny little white specks that Hwitaek wasn’t even sure were stars, he could be convincing himself that they were there, when they weren’t.

He turned back to look down at Jinhwan. “No,” he yanked his sleeve from his grip and went to catch up with Wooseok, who was waiting for him by the side of the street, a grin on his lips.

“Shut up,” Hwitaek muttered, sliding under the younger’s outstretched arm and coat, to block the wind.

“You’re funny, hyung.”

They walked in silence, the darkness around them was imposing almost, but the alcohol in their system was enough to buzz and carry them the rest of the way home. Wooseok teased Hwitaek all the way home, Hwitaek’s protests and whines only encouraged him, the giant kid almost doubling over laughing.

When they reached their apartment, they tumbled inside, Hwitaek shivering. It was colder than he was expecting outside. He left his shoes on the mat and went in search of his extra sweater. He heard Wooseok shuffling around in the living room. He would be fine there for a bit. Hwitaek sat on the edge of his bed, hands on his knee.

“What the fuck,” he whispered to himself. Jinho had kissed him. Roughly.

Just the memory left him out of breath, he laid back on his bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling. He had never ever imagined that this would happen, but at the same time...it was in front of everyone. Even strangers. That’s not how he wanted his first kiss with Jinho to go, but he wasn’t going to complain right now, because it was fucking amazing.

 

* * *

  


The next night, Wooseok had a late class and Hwitaek had agreed to clean the house - finally - and make a special dinner. He had spent the afternoon at the market, chatting with his mother on the phone, he had been in a weirdly good mood all day, so he allowed her to tell him all about her week and about his father’s work. He didn’t mind.

When he got home, he immediately set on cleaning and got almost all of it done, the only thing being laundry and the dishwasher, which were both in cycle right now. He felt accomplished and allowed himself to sit and get caught up on the groupchat, which was very awkward right now, mostly Changgu and Hyojong pretending like nothing happened the night before. No sign of Jinho or Hongseok in the chat.

Worry started to settle at the back of Hwitaek’s mind, he hoped that nothing too bad had happened, he didn’t want Hongseok to be mad at Jinho because of him. He got distracted worrying and looked at the clock, swearing under his breath. Dinner would be a little late, then.

He pulled out the radishes and began cutting them, putting on some music to listen to. He was always fond of B.A.P, so he hit the ‘shuffle all’ button and settled into making his soup. Fish cake soup was one of Wooseok’s growing up and he’d told Hwitaek about how his mother used to make it, Hwitaek was determined to make an amazing soup, even if he was going off of an internet recipe.

By the time he had all of the fish cakes skewered and was getting ready to put them in, he was startled by the doorbell. Was Wooseok home early? He went to open the door was faced with Jinho, who was chewing on his lip, eyes lowered.

“Jinho?” Hwitaek frowned at him, looking him up and down to see if he was okay. He looked fine.

The older raised his head and gave Hwitaek a weak smile, he waved his hand a bit. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.”

It was familiar, this, but last time, Jinho had bagels in hand and Hwitaek wasn’t wearing pants. That seemed like forever ago, but now they were here and Jinho looked sad and Hwitaek was so far in love with him, he wanted to hug Jinho.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything. I mean, Yan An didn’t pick up his phone, so I figured...”

“What?”

“You and Yan An, I mean...”

Hwitaek almost laughed, the idea alone was preposterous. “Yan An and I? You think we’re dating?”

“Almost everyone does,” Jinho muttered, withdrawing his hand into his sleeve, chewing on his lip again.

“Well, don’t. Because we’re not,” Hwitaek said softly, walking back into the kitchen. He really didn’t want to screw up this soup.

Jinho followed him, after taking his shoes off. His small socked feet looked strangely adorable as he waddled over to Hwitaek’s table and sat down on one of the chairs there. His wide eyes watched Hwitaek as he added each skewer of fish cakes, pushing them in until they were fully submerged. He turned around and locked gaze with Jinho, who gave him a shy smile and looked down.

Was Jinho flustered because of him?

“Are you okay, hyung?” Hwitaek asked, sounding a bit flustered himself.

Jinho simply nodded, hugging his knees against his chest and tucking his chin between them. He was folded up and looked so unbelievably small and it made Hwitaek’s chest physically hurt, what the hell happened?

“Was Hongseok...mad?” the words were out before he had time to think and Hwitaek immediately hid his face in his hand. “Forget I-”

“I don’t give a fuck how Hongseok felt,” Jinho sighed. Jo Jinho and angry did not mix, they just didn’t, it never happened in all the time Hwitaek knew him. But right now, he looked pretty damn pissed.

“Oh...”

The soup was starting to smell good, so Hwitaek decided to start on the sauce, trying not to look at Jinho as he started talking, just the sound of Jinho’s voice made Hwitaek feel a little warm inside, but his words made the butterflies stop and his interests piqued.

“He’s so fucking selfish. I can’t believe I ever thought about moving in with him. He’s spent so much time with that Hanbin kid recently and the second I ask about it, he goes off about you-”

“Me?” Hwitaek turned around so fast, he almost elbowed the bowl for the sauce right off the counter.

“Don’t interrupt,” Jinho scolded, before continuing. “He started into some shit about me telling you things I shouldn’t and how if I was ‘allowed to have someone on the side’, how come he couldn’t? I’ve never been so mad at him in my life. I know he lashed out because he was hurt, but if he had had the nuts to tell me before, I wouldn’t have been so mad when I told him to get fucked.”

As it turned out, Jinho had slightly more of a temper than Hwitaek had taken him for, he’d always seen Jinho as so quiet and timid, reserved almost. But this was an entirely new side of him.

“And he didn’t...hurt you?”

Jinho’s face looked so shocked, that Hwitaek turned around to avoid it. “Hurt me? Do you think I’m that...weak?”

“No! No-”

“Yang Hongseok is the last person in the world who could hurt me, he may seem all tough, and sure he’s a bit of a muscle pig, but he’s so fucking easy. Really! All the time, especially during sex. He couldn’t even tie those ropes tight enough to hold me still, because he didn’t want to hurt me. Sure, he topped sometimes, but I swear he’s a natural bottom. The second I even had that paddle you gave me in my hand, he was like putty in my hands. I can’t believe anyone could ever think he’s-”

“Jinho!” Hwitaek snapped. He really didn’t want to hear about what Hongseok was like during sex, helping them pick out their little toys was too much as it was, but this was really just ridiculous. On top of that, surely Jinho knew that Hwitaek wasn’t overly fond of Hongseok already, was it really necessary to destroy any image Hwitaek had already formed by telling him all this? “Stop.”

Jinho blinked at him, he didn’t look bothered at all, he simply nodded. “Okay. Your fish cakes are done.”

Hwitaek sighed and went to turn the pot off. “Are you hungry?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, well Wooseok should be home within the next 20 minutes, so if you’re okay waiting, we’ll eat with him,” Hwitaek had been so desperate to spend time with Jinho, even the idea of seeing him was exciting, let alone having him over for dinner. But now that he was here...Hwitaek’s chest just hurt. It hurt to hear him talk about Hongseok, it hurt to have him so close, yet so far away.

Jinho was nodding and slowly stood up. He slowly approached Hwitaek. “So Hongseok and I had a fight.”

Hwitaek scoffed. “I kinda figured when you told him to get fucked.”

Suddenly a hand was on Hwitaek’s chest, he frowned and swallowed thickly, following the hand to Jinho’s face, which was surprisingly close. “We decided it best that we not see each other anymore.”

“Okay,” Hwitaek breathed, unable to tear his eyes from Jinho.

“We dated for three years.”

“Yeah.”

“But, you know what? I haven’t been able to think about him for the past year, almost.”

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t want him. I thought I did, I tried to convince myself that I did. But...it turns out he didn’t really want me either. We became a routine, not a couple. We were each other’s first boyfriends, it was a long first, but I’m glad it’s over. Now we can think about what we really want.”

“You talk an awful lot about him for someone who wasn’t able to think about him,” Hwitaek blurted, suddenly wanting to slap himself. Where was his filter?

Jinho laughed, his cute, crinkly eyed laugh.  “You’re right. I’ll stop.”

“Okay,” Hwitaek’s voice was gone and it was just a whisper now, but Jinho was close enough to hear him loud and clear. This felt wrong. Jinho just broke up with his boyfriend. Hwitaek knew he shouldn’t let him do this, so he stepped out of his touch. “Would you mind setting the table, please?”

“Oh...sure,” Jinho frowned a little bit, staring at his hand as if he was wondering what it had done wrong that would make Hwitaek pull away.

_I listened to everything_

_You wanted, baby_

_I know it seems like I’m nagging,_

_But don’t you know this is all for you?_

His music was still playing. Hwitaek disappeared into his room, with a sigh, he slid his apron off and dropped it onto his bed, noticing that his t-shirt had a splash of oil on it. Gross. He tugged his shirt off, humming along to the music that could still be heard from his room. He looked for one of his pullovers, beginning to sing along, his well trained voice was sweet and soft, but unused. He was a little rough.

“Hwi- _Oh_.”

By the time Hwitaek turned around, barely managing not to yelp in surprise when he heard Jinho’s voice, the older had scurried back to the kitchen. Now his cheeks were burning in embarrassment and he still didn’t have his pullover. _Shit, it’s in the washer._ The only shirt of his that wasn’t was his black longsleeve that was way too tight to be comfortable...it was better than nothing.

Hwitaek carefully walked back into the kitchen, suddenly very self conscious about the way his sweater fit him and how open the neck was, his entire collarbone exposed. Jinho was burying his nose in the soup, inhaling heavily.

“Don’t put your nose in it,” Hwitaek sighed, walking over to swat him away.

Jinho gave him a guilty smile, narrowing his eyes a bit and stepping away, his eyes drifting down Hwitaek’s face and resting on his collarbone. He swallowed and then pretended like he recieved a text, even with a little ‘Oh!’ and pretending to reply. He was such a bad liar, but it was really cute.

The door opened and Hwitaek was oddly relieved, being alone with a now single Jinho was a lot harder than he thought it’d be. “You’re a godsend,” came Wooseok’s voice as he entered the kitchen, pausing awkwardly to stare at the little man in the corner, who was still fake checking texts. “What’s he doing here?” Wooseok murmured to Hwitaek.

“Fake texting.”

Jinho’s head twitched upwards and his concealed smile showed that he heard Hwitaek loud and clear, his blush was not quite so well concealed as his smile, but it was enough for the two by the stove to let him live.

“How was your class?”

“Really good, the uh...sub was...subbing today,” Wooseok said, his phrasing made Hwitaek raise an eyebrow. “He was um...hot.”

Seeing Wooseok flustered, genuinely flustered made Hwitaek not only amused, but suddenly extremely nosy. “Aaand?”

“Uhm, sorry I’m home a little later than I was supposed to be,” Wooseok’s voice was much louder than need be, showing that he was trying to change the subject and he was hiding something.

“Wooseokkie, don’t change the subject on me, you little-”

“I gave him a blowjob,” Wooseok admitted, a grin slowly spreading on his filthy lips, his confession hanging in the suddenly very thin air of the kitchen.

‘Fucktart’ died on Hwitaek’s lips and he stared at Wooseok incredulously, he wasn’t sure whether to get angry or laugh. _Was he serious right now?_

“Is he going to help you pass?” Jinho suddenly spoke up, very interested in Wooseok’s after class activities now.

“I didn’t do it for the grades, I did it because he looked like a model and had the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen, seriously you wouldn’t believe,” Wooseok was chatting excitedly like a child, a very sexually active child it seemed. “It was like looking at a painting.”

“And his dick?”

“Whaaa, incredible. And the sounds he made, I don’t care if I fail this whole semester, I’d do anything to hear them again. Hell, I’d blow him in front of the whole class.”

“Amazing.”

 _Since when is Wooseok a slut?_ Hwitaek was frozen to the spot, his thoughts wildly passing him by. _I can’t tell his parents, do I need to scold him? Well, he’s legal...so what’s the point? But I live with him, what if he gets addicted to sucking dick? What if I’m his next chosen victim? I’m like his brother, that’ll never happen. What if Jinho’s his next chosen victim?_

“Hwitaek,” Wooseok’s massive hand waved in front of his face, drawing him out of his daze. He blinked up at the kid for several seconds, emotions bubbling inside of him.

He spluttered and before he knew it, Hwitaek was doubled over laughing. He had so many emotions built in him, it’d been so long since he laughed. He couldn’t even remember the last time he smiled. He couldn’t stop laughing, however, his stomach beginning to hurt.

All three of them laughed, Wooseok a little less earnestly, he was still quite proud of himself. Hwitaek had tears in his eyes and when he was finally able to get his breathing under control, Wooseok was already pushing past him to get some food.

“I can’t believe you sucked your teacher’s dick,” Hwitaek leaned forwards and lightly smacked Wooseok’s head, the younger whining as he sat down to eat.

“Substitute teacher,” he corrected through a mouthful of fish cakes. He was chewing enthusiastically, but his expression slowly fell and he now looked...sad?

“What?” Hwitaek asked, looking to Jinho, who had claimed his own bowl and was chewing with the same expression. “What?”

Neither of them answered, so Hwitaek sighed and got a bowl of food for himself, he sat down. “Well, if you won’t tell me, I’m just going to eat,” he shoved a fish cake in his mouth. It wasn’t long before his expression matched theirs. “Wow, I’m a shitty cook.”

* * *

 

 

The following weeks difficult, Hwitaek's health deteriorated to the point where he'd passed out in the tub, a very concerned Wooseok finding him, thankfully it was not about 20 minutes that he was in there. Yan An had been furious when he found out that Hwitaek had ignored his instructions, he scolded Hwitaek for being reckless, he scolded Wooseok for not keeping an eye on him like he was told and then he scolded himself for not being strict enough. Wooseok cried for the entire day, telling Hwitaek how he thought he'd died.

But Hwitaek wasn't too bothered with his own poor health, his biggest problem was the hospital bills that ensued. It was a lot of money that Hwitaek didn't have, which made him realize he needed another job if he was to keep Wooseok fed. The good part about going to the hospital is the free food that neighbors and your friends moms send to your apartment to feed you and your roommate. Wooseok force fed him rice and soup broth for a week as Hwitaek recovered.

Yan An visited often, making sure he was well hydrated and fed and more often than Hwitaek had expected, Jinho visited. He took care of Wooseok, he made him decent food while Hwitaek slept, he drove him to school so he didn't have to pay for the bus and occasionally when Hwitaek woke up, Jinho would just be smiling at him. He did whatever it took to make Hwitaek smile and laugh and whenever it was successful, he would stop and gaze at him like it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"That," he'd said once, pointing at Hwitaek's face. "It's been a long time since I've seen that, do it more often."

Weeks passed since Jinho and Hongseok's split and Jinho seemed to be okay, he would sometimes lose his smile, but Hwitaek quickly learned from their time together that one thing always made Jinho smile. As much as he hated it, it was Hwitaek's own smile. He would give him his biggest brightest grin, complete with eye smile and Jinho would slowly cave and beam back at him.

But all those hectic weeks and suddenly spring was approaching and things began to change. Jinho had come over for lunch, Hwitaek was washing dishes and absentmindedly singing along, when Jinho seemed to give in. "Your place is shit," he said, tapping the table.

"Your point?" Hwitaek raised his eyebrows curiously.

"We should get a new one."

Soap suds dripped onto the floor as Hwitaek slowly turned around, his hands limp in front of him. "We?" he asked weakly.

Jinho silently nodded before looking up with a smile. "Yeah, my place is getting kinda pricey, so...you, Wooseok and I. We should get a nice big place, together."

"...okay."

The door slammed and Wooseok marched in. "I got his name and number!" He shrieked delightedly. He'd been playing this coy game with his substitute teacher for months now, the mystery sub was apparently playing hard to get as he'd only told Wooseok what year he was born and nothing else about himself. Wooseok had only seen him about once a month and some still managed to give and receive a blowjob every other time they saw each other, Hwitaek was amazed with his skills by now.

"Really? And who is this sub?"

"Go Shinwon! He has the same first name as that guy you work with," Wooseok chuckled absently.

Hwitaek groaned. "No! He is that guy I work with! You've been sucking off my supervisor?"

Jinho laughed obnoxiously. "Kinky."

After a bit of a skirmish of Hwitaek trying to get the paper with his number to throw away and Wooseok holding like twenty feet above his head, they finally settled down and ate lunch. Jinho discussed the idea of getting a new apartment with a Wooseok, who seems a little too excited. Before long, Wooseok's phone went off and he said he had a date, much to Hwitaek's annoyance.

"You just got his number, how do you have a date already?"

Wooseok shot him a wink. "My talents are all in the legs, that's why they're so long."

As the kid bounded out the door, Jinho disappeared into the living room, Hwitaek following curiously. He was sitting on the couch, seemingly getting cozy as he wiggles his butt and little hums of satisfaction came from him. It was unbelievably cute. He looked like one of those puppies that walked in circles till they found the spot on the floor where they wanted to lay down.

He looked up at Hwitaek and patted next to him, the younger hesitated for barely half a second before going to join him. He pulled his knees up and scooted his back against the arm, so he could be turned in to face Jinho, just to look at his face, really.

"We're good," Jinho laughed.

"...at?"

"This. This game, the push and pull one," Jinho seemed genuinely amused. "Will you ever get tired of it?"

"Of what?" Hwitaek wasn't quite following and he was lowkey concerned that he might have offended him.

"Pushing, because I've been pulling for awhile now," he was talking do casually that Hwitaek didn't even realize he was talking about them. "I'm tired of pulling, if you're just gonna keep pushing."

"No, no, I...I'm tired too, I don't wanna push anymore."

The older had an adorably delighted expression and nodded. "Good!"

They stared awkwardly until Hwitaek leaned forward and gently kissed Jinho, it had been several months since the first kiss they'd shared, this one far more private. It was a nice kiss, tender and sweet. It wasn't long and it wasn't awkward, it was fine. Just nice. Almost boring, but Hwitaek would never admit it.

 

 

This left the next week a little weird, they saw each other often and shared a subtle kiss, always very sweet and soft. During the week, Hwitaek worked at the adult store and on the weekends he worked his new job as a server at a fancy restaurant where he had to wear a suit and everything. He was working late on a Friday night when he saw a table where seated was Jinho, looking like he was waiting for someone. Hwitaek's nosy side kicked in and he kept an eye out, he wasn't assigned to his table, so he kept his distance.

An elderly couple came in and greeted Jinho warmly, they joined him at the table and Hwitaek couldn't help but chuckle at how cute it was. They were both just as small as he was. As soon as his shift was over, he noticed Jinho wave at him, he carefully approached, Jinho's eyes widening as he got closer.

"Uhm, these, uh- these are my parents," Jinho seemed to had trouble collecting his thoughts but he managed. "Mom. Dad. This is Hwitaek."

 

* * *

 

The door slammed shut behind them, Jinho's snicker the only sound left in the air as Hwitaek grabbed him by the collar, he tugged him after him as he marched towards his bedroom.

Jinho started up a protest. "I can't believe you told me parents we're gonna fuck!"

"I didn't! Not in as many words."

A laugh left Jinho's lips as Hwitaek pushed him into his bedroom, stopping to close the door tightly, they didn't need Wooseok's peering eyes. "You said - and I quote; 'We aren't that serious yet, but I promise I'll take good care of him tonight', so actually I'm more words."

Hwitaek's sparkling eyes just stared at Jinho as he took a seat on the bed, wriggling a bit and bouncing up and down. "Comfy," he murmured, suddenly sensitive to Hwitaek's gaze.

"Shut up and take off your clothes," he sighed, tugging his shirt off over his head. Before Hwitaek was all skin and bones, he had no fat or muscle on him, but in the past seven months or so, he'd been eating better and Yan An had even gotten him to work out with him. Granted, he wasn't on Yan An's level, no one was on Yan An's level, because as Hwitaek had so elegantly put when he first saw Yan An's shirtless body. "Holy fuck."

But Hwitaek had a body, it had a decent amount of muscle, nothing to brag about, but he was working on it. He chest wasn't quite as full as he'd like and his stomach still looked a little too thin, but it was a process. Jinho seemed to love it however and he immediately reached a hand out to grasp Hwitaek's belt and tug him closer. Jinho scooted his butt to the edge of the bed to make it easier for him to kiss Hwitaek's chest, making the younger make a surprised noise and try to pull away.

"Jinho," he started but was shushed as Jinho's teeth scraped over his nipple, making him gasp. "God."

The older seemed quite content as his legs started to wrap around Hwitaek's calves, holding him in place, but Hwitaek somehow found the strength to push him away. "Stop, let's...let's get this off," his hands pulled at Jinho's button down and he started on the top button.

Jinho sighed and stood up, knocking Hwitaek back a bit. "It's cheap, Hwi," he said, almost annoyed. He reached two hands up, grasped either side of his shirt and actually ripped it open. Hwitaek had never been more turned on by anything in his life. "Plus my mom got it for me and I hate it."

Jinho had a surprising amount of muscle, definitely not like Yan An, but he had more than Hwitaek and it was soft. It was soft muscle that wasn't fine tuned daily, but it was certainly well maintained. Hwitaek wanted to bite the muscle, he couldn't resist lifting a hand to feel it at least, his pectorals were surprisingly...puffy and his abdomen wasn't as soft as it looked, but Hwitaek was pleased.

Jinho laughed a bit. "Are you just gonna keep poking me or are you gonna take your pants off?"

Obediently, Hwitaek pulled the rest of his clothes off, seeing out of the corner of his eye that Jinho was doing the same. They both turned back to look at each other, now naked and exposed in so many ways, but not the tiniest bit embarrassed, which was new for Hwitaek.

Before he knew it, he was suddenly on his back on the bed, he wasn’t sure when this happened, but things were moving along and he was okay with it. Jinho was sitting on top of him, straddling his waist, his hands delicately playing along his chest, Hwitaek made a sound as the older’s fingers tickled across his abdomen.

Jinho shushed him as he slid down, moving his hands under Hwitaek’s butt and lifting slightly, he kissed the tip of Hwitaek’s cock, making him blush slightly. Hwitaek was averagely sized, but Jinho was slightly smaller than average, there was no room for either of them to get self conscious right now.

He hadn’t expected Jinho’s mouth to be so warm, his hips bucked forwards a bit, gagging him for a second. Whispered apologies were passed down, but Jinho waved them off before taking Hwitaek in his mouth again. He wasn’t skilled in the art of sucking dicks, but he was a fast learner and he could read people well enough, so he could keep up with what Hwitaek would like and what he wouldn’t.

As his tongue swirled around the head of his cock and he sucked hard, a guttural moan left Hwitaek’s lips and Jinho beamed somewhat with pride. He now knew what Hwitaek liked. He pulled off and then patted Hwitaek’s butt, “I would assume you’ve got stuff.”

Hwitaek actually giggled and slowly reached over to open the top drawer of his nightstand. “You’ve seen where I work, I have more of these than I could ever use,” he said, withdrawing an unopened package of condoms and some lube - vanilla flavored, Jinho noticed.

He couldn’t help but laugh a little bit as he took them from Hwitaek. “I think we could manage to use them eventually,” he slid the condom onto Hwitaek’s dick and then opened the lube and spread it onto his fingers.

Three minutes of having his fingers inside himself and he was desperate for Hwitaek, he didn’t want his own fingers, he wanted Hwitaek’s length instead. He positioned himself above him and slowly slid down onto the younger. There was a second of hesitation and they stared at each other, a quiet agreement of trust and Jinho slowly rolled his hips forwards. Hwitaek’s head shot backwards and he let out a slight whine.

The tiny sounds that Jinho made as he fucked himself on Hwitaek’s cock were driving him insane, Jinho dug his nails into Hwitaek’s stomach, the marks he was dragging into them would last awhile and Hwitaek was glad. He wanted them to last a long time, he wanted people to know he was claimed.

They moved together, Hwitaek’s groans encouraging Jinho to go faster, his own little pants and whines made Hwitaek reach out for him. They intertwined their fingers and held on, eyes locked in a fiery gaze, Hwitaek let out a yell as he came inside Jinho, his breathing was ragged and his voice sounded wrecked as he whispered. “Jinho.”

Jinho slowly pulled off and slid under Hwitaek’s arm, they laid there and stared at each other for a long time, Hwitaek leaning down to kiss him sweetly. He sighed happily and looked up at the ceiling. Jinho cozied up closer to him and Hwitaek became very aware that he was still hard.

“You want me to-”

“What? Give me a rushed handjob? Not really,” Jinho snickered, pressing his lips to Hwitaek’s shoulder. “Can I do you?”

Hwitaek shivered at the thought, the idea of Jinho taking control wasn’t something that he could unsee now and he nodded eagerly. “Y-yeah, please.”

Jinho got up to grab another condom, while Hwitaek cleaned himself up real quick, they were only going to make a mess again, but he didn’t care much. He could buy new sheets later. Jinho rolled the condom onto his length and then turned back to Hwitaek, hands on hips. He looked like one of those prideful breeds of bird that displayed their underwings, he even let out a little giggle that sounded like a bird chirping. It was oddly really cute.

“What are you into?” Jinho asked, stepping forwards to kneel on the bed. “I know it’s a little weird, but I’m like trying new things, so whatever you want me to do. I’ll do it.”

Hwitaek swallowed thickly and then smirked. “Come on, I’m not telling you my kinks. Let’s just-”

Suddenly Jinho was very close to him, his lips inches away from Hwitaek’s and his expression said that he was dead serious. He glanced at Hwitaek’s mouth, before looking him in the eye again. “Hwi,” his voice had dropped an octave and Hwitaek felt the repercussions in his toes. “Tell me what you want me to do to you.”

He blinked at the older for a bit, trying to genuinely consider what he actually liked. _Oh._ There was one thing that Hyojong liked to do that he always enjoyed, but it was embarrassing, he wasn’t going to ask Jinho to... Jinho looked really serious. “R-rough,” Hwitaek managed to get out. “I like rough.”

Jinho nodded thoughtfully and then grabbed his shoulders and shoved him down onto the bed, face first. He used a knee to force Hwitaek’s legs apart and it didn’t take long for his fingers to circle his hole before pushing into him. Hwitaek grunted and he keened into the fingers. Jinho’s hand was fairly small, so it wasn’t the best fingering he’d ever received, but it was good.

“Damnit,” Jinho sighed and pushed Hwitaek’s face back to the pillow when he tried to look over his shoulder. “Don’t move,” he was instructed and he waited patiently. Jinho pushed his fingers in even farther, two fingers to start. He slowly scissored them, before adding a third finger. He was four fingers deep and somehow still scissoring him, when he decided that it was good enough.

He slid into Hwitaek, a hand clutching his shoulder and he stilled, waiting for Hwitaek to adjust. They held still for a moment, before Jinho slowly began thrusting inside of him, hearing the tiny grunts that came from Hwitaek. The hand on his shoulder slid up his spine, before going back down and bracing on the back of his neck.

It felt like good, but when Jinho’s fingers slid around to brush his Adam’s apple and apply the slightest amount of pressure, it suddenly felt even better and Hwitaek moaned and pressed into his hand. Jinho froze. “Oh,” he chuckled.

As Jinho pounded into Hwitaek from behind, his hand clutching his throat, Hwitaek was _living_. This was exactly what he wanted, he wanted Jinho to be rough, he wanted Jinho to take control of him. He wanted to be pushed into the bed and manhandled and he wanted Jinho to choke him. He’d never wanted anything so much.

Jinho thrusted as deep as he could, feeling Hwitaek clench around him. _Fuck_ , he wasn’t gonna last long. He held Hwitaek’s hips and lifted them a bit, he thrust in and must have hit the right spot, because Hwitaek cried out and arched his body, Jinho tightened his hand around his neck, but not enough to hurt him.

It wasn’t long before Hwitaek was coming for the second time that night and he tightened around Jinho as he orgasmed, Jinho’s hips stuttered with one last thrust before he came, filling the condom. Hwitaek collapsed onto the bed and Jinho pulled out, falling down next to him. They were both a mess, but they didn’t care.

Jinho leaned forwards to kiss Hwitaek, it wasn’t the sweet after sex kiss that he had shared with Hongseok so many times, it was rough and desperate. He was surprised with how desperate he was to have Hwitaek in every way he could, he couldn’t get enough of him.

Hwitaek melted into Jinho’s arms as his teeth scraped along his lip and his tongue explored the warm cavern of his mouth, it was like they were trying to get to know every inch of each other. They were tired, so they didn’t get too intense in their making out, but they did find the energy to get up and go stand in the shower, holding each other and murmuring words of praise.

 

* * *

  

The sun light was surprisingly bright as it broke through the curtain, Hwitaek squinted and tugged his comforter over his head to block it. What was that sound? He pulled the blanket away, closing his eyes against the sun. He climbed out of bed, walking over to his bathroom, his ass hurt. He stared into the mirror in front of him, frowning. His hair was a mess and he had a light scattering of stubble across his cheeks and jaw. He needed to shave, but he didn’t have the energy to right now.

Walking out into his room, he found a pair of boxers to slip on, before going into the living. He could barely make out the kitchen through his sleepy eyes, a tiny figure was at the counter, next to two massive figures. He frowned and looked towards the window in the living room, there was rain pouring down over the city. So that was the sound.

The sky was still bright, so he figured the rain wouldn’t last long and was just ending. He pattered into the kitchen, seeing way more skin than he was expecting. Jinho was at the counter, pouring a cup of coffee and laughing, he was wearing one of Wooseok’s t-shirts that came down to his knees.

Wooseok himself was wearing just a pair of jeans and was leaning against the table, where Shinwon had now taken a seat at, he was also wearing one of Wooseok’s t-shirts, his bright yellow briefs showed under the trim of it. Hwitaek sighed.

“Morning,” Wooseok said cheerily, watching Hwitaek stumble over to reach for a mug, only for Jinho to raise the one in his hand to directly in front of Hwitaek’s face.

“Bless you,” the younger whispered and took the coffee from Jinho.

“How are you feeling?” Shinwon asked, eyebrows raised. His eyes moved along Hwitaek’s exposed torso, stopping at the scratches right above his happy trail, where he laughed and looked at Jinho, who winked proudly.

Hwitaek sighed, why was Shinwon here? He took a long sip of coffee before reluctantly responding. “My ass hurts.”  
  
There were a few snickers around the room and at the same time, all three of the other people in the room answered, “Mine too.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's really long, I'm sorry, but I hope you liked it!  
> Thank you SO much for reading!!  
> Lemme know what you think :D


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